fall from grace
by aura gurdian
Summary: it has been over a year scenes the the defeat of hawkmoth and his imprisonment. but even though the war is over the battles go on for one blond. with no home, no family, no love unwilling to let others in. however one day a blue haired girl will find a stray ally cat and will try to heal him. the only question is will he say or will he leave again into the shadows.
1. prolge part 1 Adrian

**rock bottom. part 1 (Adrian).**

 **Update (2/11/2017) OK miraculous fan's good news well I hope this is good news if it's not I'm not sure what it is...Any way! I've fixed most (hopefully) all the spelling mistakes in my first chapter as I'm using a new spell checking program and auto correction software thing so there should be less problems with the story from this update on. And I know it's no excuse for the first time but with grammar things like were where and we're, There their and they're gets a little tricky for me is all. and to are lovely reviewer's yellow 14 and twilight waters. And to answer your comments and to yellow I do not take any harm from you reveiws you did exactly as I asked. I asked you to tell me of my errors you told me exactly that. So how can I take offence to something I literally tell you to do? I again literally asked for it. However that said I'm sorry for all the safoo's and I hope I got them all. I've already started working on the second chapter to this story but not sure how long it will take.**

 **Also I made one minor chronological change to the story. Marinette and Adrien are around fifteen. And by the end of the second season they will be depending on how much time passes about sixteen, sixteen and a half ish. I swear I'm getting to my point. The point is for someone to get in adrian's shape (which you will hear more about in the Marinette chapter) takes months and at least a year perhaps two depending on what he was eating unless you basically starve yourself which adrian here is not. Also the great expanse of time will mean that the pair in my story will be about twenty. While not legal adults by the U.S drinkin standards it allows me more freedom with the timeline. I.E marinette graduating, ayla getting her dream job...Sorta. Neno settling down with his girlfriend etc. It also allows me to make adrian's situation more tragic to the people helping him as he would have been on the streets alone for at least two or three years. Ultimately this change will not only make explaining this later on in the story's much easier. I mean ok I Love my own story but unfortunately it's illegal to have a minor in you house for long periods of time without legal things needing to be done. So agging adrian and Marinette up to around nineteen-twenty just makes more scenes.**

 **OH! And on a said note just out of curiosity I looked up the word kwami and it's an actual word. No joke it means (Kwami [kwa-mi] as a boy's' name is of Ghanaian derivation, and the name Kwami means "born on Saturday". Kwami is a version of Kwame (Ghanaian): Akan name.) that's the definition I got in the dictionary I had used. it s true you can even look it up. Either way I hope this answer some criticisms if any and helps out. Ok sorry about all the extra clutter in this chapter they there should but that should be all. Oh! I've already started working on the second prologue chapter to this story but not sure how long it will take. Also let me know if you would like to see my author's updates where they are near the beginning or at the end. Tanks again.)-End of update.**

Ok this here is the first chapter of my story that I alluded to in the Christmas sneak peek and as promised I have got the first chapter out. Granted a little later then I would have enjoyed but it's out now so eh. Either way there are a few things I should get straight this is one of two prologue chapters the first prologue will feature adrian with chunks of it with plagg's p.o.v (that's point of view for those who are new to reading fanfiction) and the other that will feature primarily marinetti's (and I hope I spelled that right) p.o.v with tikki now and then. Also I am aware that some people don't think that Gabriel is hawkmoth and I get the scepticism. But! that's not what this story is about. This story is here to illustrate at least in my mind what would happen if he was hawkmoth and what the fallout would be for him. Now even if I guess right that gab (do you mind if I call him gab is hawkmoth which honestly at this point I don't' care too much either way as I trust the writers. This story is just to show one version of what would happen to specifically adrian if gab was hawkmoth. Also I am aware that despite the obvious pain and darkness (no joke intended) in him from his less than pleasant family life like him mom probably being dead though that's ambiguous. And his father well I don't think I need to explain why here if you have watched the show. Anyway I digress despite the darkness adrian carries in his heart he is seen as a person who despite his demons want's to see only the good in others and not let his bad past ruin his life. And in this story where it takes place chronologically is to show the same person when they're down on their luck with what feels like the whole world against him. And in the story with the help of the people who do care for him much like a Phoenix he must degrade burn away so that he can rebuild himself and rise from the ash's new and better.

Ok phew that was a lot but I think I covered everything. Think Keyword think. Anyways just one last thing this story will have minor dark themes the deal with depression and psychology. Mind you I'm not making fun of depression just so we're clear I've had depression I know what it's like. Finally there will also be minor blood but no gore. and elements of hopelessness.

Alright I believe that's a wrap leave a fav and follow if you like let me know how I did and I hope you enjoy the show. Also if you have any constructive criticism let me know what I did wrong I'm happy to hear and let me know of any mistakes that I missed. And without further adieu please enjoy…

Also I made one minor chronological change to the story. Marinette and Adrien are around fifteen in the current season of the show. And by the end of the second season they will be depending on how much time passes about sixteen, sixteen and a half ish. I swear I'm getting to my point. The point is for someone to get in adrian's shape (which you will hear more about in the Marinette chapter) takes months and at least a year perhaps two depending on what he was eating unless you basically starve yourself which adrian here was not. Also the great expanse of time will mean that the love pair in my story will be about twenty. While not legal adults by the U.S drinkin standards they would still be adults so it allows me more freedom with the timeline. I.E Marinette graduating, Ayla getting her dream job...sorta, Neno settling down with his girlfriend etc. It also allows me to make adrian's situation more tragic to the people helping him as he would have been on the streets alone for at least two or three years. Ultimately this change will not only make explaining this later on in the story's much easier but also give more liberty to add details from season 2 when its out. And also realistically speaking I mean ok I Love my own story but unfortunately it's illegal to have a minor in you house for long periods of time without legal things needing to be done. So agging adrian and Marinette up to around nineteen-twenty just makes more scenes.

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It was a cloudy day in the city paris. One could tell it was going to rain but that stopped none from getting things done in the streets of paris. However sitting alone in a small hard to find nook between buildings in a back ally was Adrian agrest. The nook was small no larger than a prison cell with its entrance covered by boxes and cardboard boxes as a roof. Huddled in a corner laying on some boxes for a bed Adrian mindlessly look at the opposite side of his shelter miserable wondering how things turned out the way it did. Sitting beside his head was plagg looking at his master worried for him. Adrian clothes where filthy from living on the streets the designer cloths he had gone replaced by an old black sweater and faded blue jeans and a black knit cap which he had off for being too hot. His face and hair were smeared with grim. And though you could not see it under his clothes or what remained of them and the filth coating his skin and bone frame was an unhealthy pale color.

It had been approximately nearly three years after ladybug and Adrian/ cat noir had defeated Hawkmoth. After the battle it left the agrest manor in shambles with most of the building in pieces. and after pulling the moth miraculous from hawk moth it revealed the identity of Gabriel agrest, Adrian's father. After the reveal Adrian was taken in by the police for his own safety and for some questions. But was let go in that regard as it was clear that Gabriel was acting alone from his own words and the lack of evidence. However once the media found out they went after Adrian asking him questions trying to get in and interview, In there words the son of hawk moth. It got so bad the percipient had to be barred shut from the inside for Adrian's safety. After a few days things only from bad to worse, The company that Adrien's father owned had all their resources froze till further notice. Then the money that Gabriel had in the banks after this was gone after a large amount of people sued for being akumatized or their parents and loved ones for the stress and trauma being possessed had caused them... or so they said. And though Adrian did not blame them for it as he would likely do the same thing. But this only left him with next to nothing.

Then to add to the list of problems he had branded public enemy along with his father for simply being related. That was mostly caused by some people like there mayor and his daughter believing that Adrian was targeting victims for his father to posses. Because of this he received a number of harassment and death threats blaming him for what happened thinking he was involved. Both chloe and her father were so mad that the mayor even threatened to have him arrested with his along with his father. Thankfully this did not happen, If only because the reason he did not was case he had legal ability to and there was no evidence that adrian knew anything and that he was probably the biggest victim of all in the grand scheme of things. While he could fire just about anyone he did not and could not make the law and had no ability to imprison or banish Adrian... not to say that he did not try. Then there was his father's company soon after all this happened the board of directors cut all ties to the agrest family.

All this meant that modeling as much as he hated it was no longer an option as no one wanted to hire him much less see his face again and that left him with little no for revenue. His bodyguard had also left him the moment that people found out about his father. This however did not surprise him as while loyal he had his own family to think of. His assistant however did stay with him for a time hoping to help him which did surprise him. But she too left after a time when adrian demanded she leave for her own safety, And though she was reluctant she eventually agreed. He was still thankful for her trying to help but it was far too dangerous for her and he knew she could not work for free in this economy.

So after all this with no home no family no money and no ally's he was effectively an orphan. A few days after things calmed down and most of the reporters moved on to cover other stories, like his father's transfer to prison pending his court hearing. Someone from child services came and mentioned that he was to be moved to foster care which did not surprise him ether, that's all he was wasn't he? A child a naive boy who couldn't tell that his own father was his worst enemy... but now where was he to go? an orphanage was the only place to send people like him someone with no living family. However he knew that was not an option. Not for him at least. He knew that people would come after him no mater where he went as there was too much bad blood and that would put everyone in danger who tried to help him.

So while the police were distracted he snuck out in the night and went his septet way and disappeared from public view. The next morning after his little disappearing act the tabloids and magazines went wild thinking that he was going to try to become the new hawkmoth to avenge his father. Which merely made him scoff. As the only was he would be avenging his father if he did would be by impaling the monster. Thankfully after a few days that story flickered and died. With the help of ladybug probably the only person who though he was innocent showing she had the butterfly miraculous. And after giving a speech about how it would be impossible for anyone to become a new hawkmoth while she had it, after the speech people quickly calmed down and the supposed threat of hawkmoth .JR was averted. With most of the reports no longer dogging him or trying to track him down and the police unable to find him with a little help from plagg. That left Adrian to find his way alone on the Parisian street.

Some might think it rash to leave to go live on the streets but he knew that no matter where he went from now on he would be ostracized. After what his father did he would be surprised if there was any place he could go without being looked upon in disgust. Much less go without being attacked. Thinking back on it was not hard to believe how things turned out, in fact he felt like a fool and blamed himself. While true there was no way he could have known what his father was up to. but after he became cat noir he should have known and should have investigated. If he had found out sooner he could have prevented so many people from getting hurt and maybe even saved his father, Just thinking about reminded him of the look of pure disgust that Gabriel gave him as if he had been a disappointed for not being the obedient son he should of been in his eye's. And in all truth it would not be hard for him to imagine his father figuring out he was cat noir at some point during their last bought. Though if he did he wondered why he was keeping so quiet about it? maybe he figured that if he escapes he can take adrian down and convince him to join him? Ridiculous! Besides he was in prison what on earth could he do from a mex cell.

Sighing heavily letting his anger quell he thought about his current predicament 'no I deserved this. this is my punishment for not stopping things before they went too far.' he said resigning himself to this state when "Growl!" a loud noise came from his stomach. groaning he sat up leaning against the wall. plagg then flew out of his pocket in front of his face "Come on Adrian you need to eat something. You haven't eaten to two days." the little black kewami said concerned for him. Adrian however just frowned "Unless you have something on you I got nothing to eat." Adrian said roughly. he groaned in frustration as his throat had been sore for the past few days.

The kewami was having none of it though "Then we need to find some for you" the black cat spirit said grabbing his shoulder trying to drag him out of there shelter. "Alright plagg where going." Adrian huffed out annoyed. As he pulled his hat out of his pocket before putting it on then pulling his hood up to cover his face. Then sliding the box's he uses for a door out of the way before crawling out. Getting on his feet was difficult as it had been for the past few days he was not sure why he just figured it was from a lack of nutrition. Looking around he could see his tiny shelter it was a one room get away with all the comforts of, nothing. The shelter aside from being warmer than nothing was basically just a cube just large enough for one person to sit down in made of boxes. Finally getting his tired body to co operate he set off.

Adrian walked along the streets of pairs being careful to avoid people and only going out of the back alleys. He tended to stay away from the sidewalk unless he needed to cross or needed to leave for safety if necessary where he was now. Currently walking down a street he kept his head down making sure to not look up unless necessary and even then he only glanced. Being careful to avoid everything in his path he stopped when he heard a squeal of delight of to his left. Looking carefully to the side he seen a mother and daughter pair sitting outside at a cafe. The girl was eating cake while the mother was scolding her to stay clean. the scene while quite charming to watch made Adrian stomach clench hard in hunger.

Forcing himself forward he moved trying to not be noticed. While wishing he could go inside and join them for a nice meal. But he knew better as he could not he had no money. After the hawk moth mess the agrest family had not a penny to its name. And even if he did have the money he knew that no one would ever let him in if they saw him, 'after all' he thought glumly 'I am the son of hawk moth.' . As Adrian felt his stomach turn he realized now why people complained about going hungry. Living in a wealthy family he never went without anything aside from freedom. up until he went to live on the streets he never went hungry before. And at at first it was several and was a odd feeling, But now it was just an annoying and painful reminder of what his father became.

Forcing his body along he wiped sweat from his brow feeling uncomfortably warm in his cloths. Daring to look up he seen the cloudy sky then feeling a somewhat cool breeze on his skin which made him all the more confused. 'How can I be so uncomfortably warm out when it's so cool?' He forced these thoughts aside however refusing to think about them as he pushed forwards to his destination and hopefully some food. A wave of nusa then hit him suddenly almost casing him to stumble. A few people took notice of this and asked if he was alright. Adrian however forcing through the nausea and slight vertigo managed to pick up his pace and willed himself into a light sprint away from where he almost fell.

He could not let people see his face he told himself knowing how much trouble he would be in if he was seen. After turning a corner and speeding down another block he slowed down and though the people around him seemed to take note of his recent hurried appearance. But thankfully the people who saw him seemed to care very little as they continued to move on without care. Letting out a sigh of relief Adrian moved on however with far greater care and silently hoped that he would not hear sirens approaching as that was the last thing he needed.

Quickening his pace at the thought of food Adrian began to let his thoughts wonder again on what he would do with himself now. Modeling was obviously out and he doubted anyone in all of Europe would ever willingly see him. Outside of a casket that is. plagg used to tell him to go to his friends nino, alya or marrentt. However Adrian shot those ideas down. Adrian knew that while his close friends my try and help him. he knew the moment that anyone found out that he was in the area the media would hound them like they did him making him shudder at the thought. Not wanting his friends to be in the negative lime light he did not even give it a thought. Plagg also suggested going to ladybug and while the thought of going to his lady did tempt him... At first. He did not honestly know what he would or could say? 'Hay ladybug we arrested my father and now I'm a homeless street kid would you give me a place to bunk?' No he could not and would not do that. Besides doing that would mean she would know who he is and he could not risk losing his only friend at this point. If lady bug found out her partner was hawkmoths son she most certainly be less sympathetic towards him. besides even if he did decide to go to her he had no idea where she would be. Much less when she might show up.

After the arrest of hawk moth ladybug appearances became less and less and while she did still help out now and then. It's not like he could just sit around waiting for her. And for that matter her last appearance was when a car knocked out a bridge piling casing it too fall in the river. Well, did. Past tense fell till ladybug put everything right again. That said there was no way to know when or where she would appear and Adrian as just Adrian was not fast enough. And he did not think that he could get vary far as cat noir as tired as he was. Even with plaggs help.

As he continued to look around for people who may be onto him he thoughts went back to when he first went to the streets. He turned into cat noir a few times and helped ladybug stop ordinary crime where he could. But after a time it just became too much for him to keep up and he had to stop as he was spending more energy and with not enough food to replenish... Well at least he got his wish he now had all the freedom in the word to be cat noir whenever he wanted with no one to stop him. " Got to appreciate the irony" he muttered "All the freedom in the world and I'd rather be back at home." he muttered wishing things would go back to the way things were before his father turned evil.

He kept going till he found himself in front of an alleyway and did not hesitate to go down the dark path. Walking down the alley a large amount of pleasant and alluring smells hit his nose and that told Adrian that he had arrived. Turning a corner he found himself behind a restaurant that was apparently a very popular Italian place. Occasionally he would sneak in the the hotel Chloe's father owned mostly to nab cheese for plagg using the knowledge he gained when he was young playing with Chloe. But that was becoming increasingly difficult with out getting caught. However this place suited him just fine. though he technically never went there before as his father when he was allowed out would not let him go to any restaurant that was not basically a rich person's place. Personally he liked everyday people food that did not cost a fortune as he he like the simplicity of it. However pushing that aside he moved to the trash bin hoping to find a bounty to sedate his hunger. Moving in front of the dumpster he pushed open its lid only to be met with a mixture of horrid and good smelling things. And on Adrian empty stomach it made him feel sick but he forced himself into composer as he needed to eat food not lose it. Beginning to rummage around he felt plagg pop out of his sweater pocket but did not care as hunger overtook him.

As he rummaged around he thought back to the owner of the restaurant he never seen the woman's face but she was kind at least. He suspected she caught him rummaging through the trash a few times likely hearing the noise. And the fact that when he could not find food else where he would always come here due to how close it was to his...Home. Besides there would always be a fresh amount of it save on Sundays when the place was closed. That said he would every now and then find left over food left out for him completely untouched and clean. This single act of kindness had brought him to tears the first time he seen it. And though he had never been introduced formally he suspected she had her reasons. He had a hunch that she wanted to respect his space and pride which he was thankful for as he did not want anyone to see him like this. Or at all for that matter given what his name was.

Scavenging around Adrian was only vaguely aware that plagg was speaking his hunger having taken him over like a wild animal until he found something that got his attention. In one of the bags was what looked like a bunch of plain raviolis excited at this find Adrian then pulled as many as he could out and began scarfing them. He hated ravioli cringing at the taste but his hunger was so great that once he started eating he could not stop. "Careful Adrian those might be spoiled!" he heard plagg say but did not care as he was to hungry to stop himself. After quickly eating around two dozen of the little meat stuffed pasta he finally stopped as his hunger momentarily subsided. Plagg then took this opportunity to get a word in edgewise "What were you thinking! Leftover pasta and breadsticks is one thing but meat possibly spoiled or uncooked meat have you lost your mind? I know you're hungry but you can't just eat food that could poisoning you" The little spirit went on but Adrian was not listening as he could feel his hunger starting to return.

Getting back up only to stumble and falling to one knee catching himself on the dumpster feeling somewhat dizzy. The little black spirit floated next to his face "Adrian." He could hear the kewami say to him worry ridden. Putting on a reassuring smile he looked at his kewami putting a hand to his face rubbing plagg before speaking his voice hoarse "I'm all right. just tired." Adrian said before continuing to rummaged through the trash for more scrapes. this left the black spirit to watch with worry.

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"Adrian." the little spirit said worry ridden knowing Adrian was likely ignoring him. Plagg knew that his mission was to get the miraculous from hawk moth and they had done that already plus ladybug already returned the moth pin to master fu. Normally after his job was done he would normally head back to master and chill out there not caring. But with Adrian he could not bring himself to abandon him like he always did. he wanted to do something for his friend but what could he do as there was no rule or power that forced Adrian to listen to him. What's worse was plagg could scenes adrian getting weaker by the day and he could feel something was wrong with him. But there was nothing he could do. Was there? that was when he felt it.

Adrian still rummaging felt a big wet drop of water hit his nose. looking up he seen what he had been dreading for a few days now rain. "Great now I have to get more boxes or my shelter will be gone again" Plagg heard Adrian say angered as he left the dumpster stuffing some random food items he found in his pockets before leaving. Passing plagg the little spirit said nothing as it went back inside his sweater this time in the hood to avoid the stale food. Unbenounced to Adrian and plagg they was about to get a blessing that would finally get his life turned around.

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Within minutes of Adrian leaving the alley it began raining heavily casing Adrian pace to slow as the water made the ground slick. Also being careful to avoid attention again Adrian made his way back towards his…(Home) hating the thought of using that word. He also needed to check for any discarded boxes in the alley so he could avoid his little hole from literally dissolves, remembering what happened last time when he did not bring some extra boxes when it rained. However as he travailed his steps got heavier and slower not that he or anyone around him noticed...well almost no one.

Plagg however did noticed inside Adrian's hood out of the wet rain, he knew quite well that there was something extremely wrong with his holder. However plagg had to bite back the edge to say anything as he did not want to draw attention to Adrian for his safety. Being forced to do nothing but watch his holder from his position in his hood as he seen the water come down from the heavens. However even just being in his hood he could tell something was off as it was much warmer than it should be given the weather, But his worrying was interrupted when Adrian said "Almost there." as nonchalantly as possible. most people would have taken his off hand statement as nothing more then statement of fact, Plagg however knew that Adrian developed a way of saying things like this off offhandedly so he could tell his kiwami without sounding suspicious.

Taking this as a hint plagg stole a glance out of the hood where he hid. It was hard to tell for sure being Adrian was practically looking down, Which often made him wonder how he could tell where he was going. But there was enough from what plagg could see to tell they were indeed near the alley where they stayed. Which was another thing he was mad about as Adrian did absolutely nothing wrong. It was his father not him, and yet people treated him like a well...His name sake. Which brought up another topic while people like the mayor and his brat daughter were still steamy about Adrian being related to Gabriel. A few people namely his classmates where for the most part cooled off not that Adrian would admit it. It was honestly shocking how Adrian as cat noir would chance disrespecting a king or what ever if he felt like it without a care in the world. And yet as himself especially now acting like he was afraid of his own shadow. Honestly it made him wonder why Adrian acted this way between his two lives he seemed to sport a doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde personality.

It made his none existent blood boiled at how stupid Adrian could be. But at the same time he supported Adrian as none of this was his fault as he honestly suspected Adrian was ashamed of what his father did. And in all honesty he silently admired Adrian for his strength of will as stupid as he was. And one may say it was impressive as well what adrian was doing as surviving this long on his own given how he grew up. When he was a child from what he learned at the agrest manor Adrian never had to do anything save his lessons. And while many would have turned spoiled from having everything done for him adrian remained polite and humbled. This made the way he was surviving on his own on the streets of paris alone even more impressive, As he did everything from the time he left the police custody alone. And while he should rightfully go seek help from someone as any sane person would do in Adrian position in plagg opinion. But Adrian would never do that Adrian was a strong I'll be it stupid person ever scenes he met him Adrian has never once wanted someone to do anything for him. Always wanting to prove himself to others and not be waited on hand and foot like his father. Adrian wanted to be his own person make his own dissensions and use his own strength no money to accomplish his goals.

Adrian was a boy of strength just wanting to shine but thanks to his father's or lack of his father love not being around basically ever, And verbal abuse from him for not doing well when he was around Adrian was afraid to use it. Adrian was not shy in the traditional scene he as he was not afraid of talking or being around others or on stage rather he was afraid of people seeing him for who he really was. People were so used to seeing him as the polite and obedient fashion model for his his father's company. So whenever someone met him that is exactly what they expected to see. When in reality aside from his former abundance of money he was no different than any normal teenager his age..."Well adult now but same difference"

Even after he plagg spirit of bad luck was at his side and being his usually poor influential self giving the boy aaaa... Nudge lets say. He was still afraid to show himself off it was only when he lost himself in the moment of freedom and the battle against stone heart that he allowed his power to break through and shine like he should. But even after that Adrian was still afraid going out and frankly being a teenage. Only when he was with others sharing the fun and excitement was he able to forget his shy nature. And while around others like marrientt or nino he was able to act sort of naturally, Well naturally for him that is. He still held in all his insecurities even to his close friend and even him his very own kwami. While it was not unheard of for for his partners to beeeee. UN trusting. But even then they usually opened up eventually and talked about thing they would never talk to others about.

Hercules for example was a good choice and how he did not trust plagg one little bit. But Hercules knowing that even so much a spinning the ring could make him disappear was comfortable enough to talk about things he other wise wouldn't. Like his guilt over accidental killing his first wife thanks to his jerk of a mother...Or was it his father? "Great my memory's starting to go I can't remember." Alagg thought begrudgingly. "Ah well I can always look it up in the library later." either way. Oh and then there was his Egyptian partner who was in love with the daughter of a rich adviser to the pharaoh. While his partner was just a street kid just barely making ends meet. "Huh? Wired." Back on point that cat noir was afraid that being just a stupid street kid that he would not be good enough for her and often confided in him about it. Well he did after her father nearly had him killed by boiling oil which plagg did not even know was a thing before getting rescued by ladybug... It was a mess. It all worked out in the end and the pair got together and married. Well after giving her father slip that is. He had no idea advisers could bounce so high.

Those two were good examples of people who he was partnered with who did not trust him but eventually opened up to him. Adrian mean while was a completely different case to the point where he could say in over a thousand years plagg could honestly say he had seen a first. Adrian trusted him completely and while not liking him trusted his judgement. (Most of the time) and yet even though he trusted him he basically never opened up. And while sure he talked about how frustrating his father was and often vented to plagg which he did not mind as he usually ignored most of it. But what surprised him was that he rarely if ever talked about his insecurities. I mean sure he talked about how he misses his mother and how is father changed and how he wanted to be part of a really family again.

But not once. not once could he think of a time where Adrian opened up to plagg and let him in. And while he never really went out of his way to help people with there problems that was tiki's department, he would however always listen to what his partners had to say. He was never very good at giving advice and helping people with their problems but he was always willing to listen. After all even though he did not relay care about the details or about basically anything. knowing from experience if he was in emotional pain that even if they could not help him through it he would at least like to have someone listen, so that he may be able to find peace with himself. And even then even though he had been with Adrian through thick and thin he still did not trust anyone with his insecurities.

His mind however was drawn from this as Adrian suddenly made a turn and plagg realized the made it back without incident. See this made the kwami breath a sigh of relief "Dodged yet another potential bullet." Plagg quipped knowing Adrian was the only one who could hear him. A little humor to make his partner feel better though knowing how depressed his partner was becoming he doubted that would have the desired effect though it was worth a shot. However what happened next struck him as odd as normally Adrian tell him off about make jokes these days as in plaggs mind the humor from his friend was taken by a vampire. But instead he was silent. Eerily quite like the sound from around them had been taken from the world. He could still hear the rain and the occasional car, and after the rain started the streets had pretty much emptied out from people leave the streets mostly bare of foot traffic. But it was like something was picking at his kwami scenes but it was just out of his grasp. He could tell something. something was horribly wrong but could not put his pad on in.

It was then that he noticed Adrian breathing very heavy and now that he noticed his staggering form. Bolting from the hood ignoring the annoying rain he flew in front of his partner face ridden with worry. "Adrian you ok?" He asked greatly concerned. as he now noticed the heat could felt just pouring off the blond in waves and the moisture permeating the hood and the more he felt it the more he realized it was not from the rain. Adrian's pace was slow and deliberate as if he had to put great effort into just taking one step. Even with out asking if adrian was alright he knew something was wrong but even so he had to know how he was feeling.

But as he said this Adrian did not hear him as he staggered to right side almost falling a few time before bumping into the wall. His right shoulder braced on the wall he also placed his left hand on it to brace himself. His eyes glassy and unfocused his face vary red and rung with sweat not rain. The whole sight of this made plagg gasp "Adrian. Adrian. What's wrong? Speak to me Adrian." Plagg said in a frenzied panic however Adrian was too far gone to even register the answer properly. After a moment Adrian looked up at plagg with his vacant eyes then "I feel s-so sleepyyy..." His voice trailing off as his position on the wall also descended sliding down to the ground. eyes wide with fear plagg stared at Adrian for a moment before "Adrian!" He shouted.

Plagg was beside himself with grief and worry as his partner. No friend was laying in an ally with what was clearly a high fever. Pnd he had no idea what to do.

Plagg was in front of Adrian face shaking his head trying to get him to wake but it was doing no good as Adrian was officially out and seemed like nothing would wake him for a while. And looking at him now plagg could see why, his face was scary pale and wiry to the point you could even make the bone in his face out showing how thin he was, And that was not counting all the dirt and grime from the past year on the streets. if plagg could vomit he just might have at how grotesque his friend looked at the moment. And that was not couldn't the angry red that covered his cheeks from fever or the shivers that wracked his body in fits.

Pace flouting back and forth a few times plagg tried to think of a way to help Adrian. However with a angered grown could come up with nothing he couldn't exactly take him to a doctor and even if he could with what money kwami had no need for it. Master Fu was out of the question as unlike lady bug he had no clue where master fu was as he had been asleep till Adrian woke him up which he was regretting now. and even if he did know where fu was he couldn't carry Adrian to him, his kwami powers may have been strong but he was not that strong.

Besides even if the guy was here master fu was too old to carry such a heavy load even if he had wayzz and himself helping. And even if he did find master fu and got him to help the only way Fu could get him back to where ever he was staying now was by transforming, And no offense to Fu but plagg HIGHLY doubted he was in any condition to do that without serious meditation to prepare. Fu may have been an excellent fighter and probably still was and could likely still take of a half dozen opponents by himself, But even with his skills he still lacked the physical strength that he used to. And regardless that required finding him and transforming and that would take to long as Adrian needed help. And he needed it now.

Plagg was beside himself right now as he had no idea how to help Adrian he was no healer all he was good at was casing things to "Decay rapidly, Blow up, Fall apart, Giving jinx's to others (which he still needed to teach Adrian how to do now that he thought about it), and ironically enough make people sick". After all his name is a spin on plage. But none of that mattered now as that would only add insult to potentially fatal illness. Stopping abruptly he rubbed his head furiously in anger and frustration at himself for being so stupid at fixing thing. "Aggh! there must be some I can get help from." And then the lightbulb went up.

"Lady bug!" He said out loud in realization. While a risk it was a risk worth taking as lady bug if thought how can share her good luck ability's to others including healing. "If I can find ladybug she will definitely help out Adrian." he said getting ready to fly off. And then paused "Wait? If I find ladybug and have her help Adrian that would give away his identity wouldn't it?...But then again Adrian might need a new one thanks to the media any way. But still. "Ahgg! why do I care right now anyway?" Plagg shouted realizing how stupid it was to "If he doesn't get help soon he won't be alive long enough to complain to me about telling ladybug who he is."

Deciding on a course of action he went right in front of Adrian face "Ok A.G I'll be back with help as soon as possible." Plagg said with more care than ever before. Hoping Adrian heard him took off towards the alley entrance. However even with a plain in mind the question was how "Ah man I should have thought this through more. Even if I find lady bug I'm not fast enough to catch her on my own. And even if I was how do I find her." He wondered but did not get to far as as soon as he left the alley something or more accurately someone got his attention.

Down the street was an all too familiar blue haired girl, and she was coming straight for him. Thinking about this a moment remembered overhearing ayla and marinette? Ya that was her name marinette. Thinking about said blue haired girls love interest in Adrian. "Himm?" plagg hummed to himself a hand on his chin as he thought. Turning around to look at Adrian then turning back towards the girl "I wonder?". This could be the ticket he was looking for as with her connection to Adrian and her love she would almost certainly be willing to jump through rings of fire for him. And from what he remembered of her parents unlike Adrian father they were quite fond of him, And not because he was rich. They would most likely take him in and help him if he needed it and they knew where he was. And while not wealthy by the former agrest family standards they were very well off so he would not have to worry about Adrian being a burden to them. So adrian would be hopefully unable to blame himself for accepting their help. And unlike ladybug who had to save the city every other Thursday (avengers reference let me know in the comments if you know where that reference comes from) she was just a baker's daughter who was most likely going to open up a private fashion joint if he remembered (and he did not remember the conversations the two girls behind Adrian had very well). So that would leave her available to help Adrian without crimping the girls scheduled too much. he hoped.

Having thought of this he came to his dissension he needed to get marinette to Adrian who was in the alley. The only question was how? plagg obviously could not just float up to her and say "hey my friend Adrian is sick would you help him". As that would tac on too many questions as to what he was. And equally obvious was the fact that he could not be seen so doing anything that could exposes him to anyone aside from adrian or lady bug. So that was also out. The only way he could get her attention was... "He He He." he he chuckled with an evil glint in his eye at the thought that came to him. "this will be so much fun!" But then quickly sobered remember that master fu specifically warned him on numerous occasions never to use his jinx or karma ability's on anyone or anything ever. As fu often told him he was worried that if he did his powers could quickly become manageable. That and the fact that fu did not trust plagg to be responsible with his powers.

Groaning at his luck ironically he decided he need to just go for it and figured that fu would forgive him, just this once. Given how it was for a good case he just need to wait till she was a bit closer. Setting himself at the lip of the alley behind a cardboard box out of the rain wanting to avoid being seen. As he watched he had to be careful of his timing as he only had one shot at this if his plain was to work. Steeling himself as he watch marinette get closer and closer each step was short and slow clearly she was not in any hurry which if all went well was about to change. In one hand was a brown paper bag with what looked like grocery's, in the other was a lady bug pattern umbrella which plagg chalked up to being a fangirl. Marinette herself had gotten much taller than she used to be from what plagg could remember last he saw her. Now she and Adrian were about the same height with her being a bit taller from his view. However one could chalk that up to nutrition her out fit stayed for the most part the same however instead of pink her pants were a nice shade of red and had swapped out the open sleeved shirt for more of a long sleeved jacket of the same color and design. Lastly one thing that hadn't changed was her signature pigtails which had gotten a bit longer but not much.

Pushing his observations aside as she got closer as he needed to focused so he could generate karma. Black sparks soon filled his body as he got ready to launch a jolt of karma on the unsuspecting girl. Granted she did not deserve the karma but that did not matter as he could dish out karma and jinx's all day if he wanted. Well given enough time that is. Watching as she walked he noticed she stopped and looked down to her pouch on her right and started talking. While he was not listening to what she said he noted there wasn't anybody else on this side of the street at the moment and she had no phone, "one of the those ear phone things maybe?" plagg did not know nor did he cared right now as he was generating the karma to unleash a jinx. marrentt was literally a step away from the alleyway now and plagg ready to go. taking aim at the ground in front of the alley and just as she was about to step out on the alley entrance...Fired!

The effect was instantaneous almost the second the black lightning spark hit the ground the cement block that formed the sidewalk lifted up a notch or to. Marinette having been distracted talking to...Her bag? Did not notice straight away but vary much did when she suddenly found herself falling after her foot caught on the now raised ground. Plagg mean while watched the scene with an evil grin as it reminded him of when he used to do stuff like this all the time for his previous master in California so diago could slip away to transform. Or just cased the corrupted Spanish military trouble when he was board which his master the fox encourage. However getting back to his basses the girl marinette who had spectacularly face planted was starting to get up punching off the ground and he could see a number of grocery items and can littering the ground immediately in front of her. "Ow...And i thought my luck was finally changing." she said not knowing how right she was as she raised a hand to her head "Ow that hurt. And I hadn't had an accident for over a month to." the girl complained. Plagg meanwhile ignored the complaining as he watch "ok phase one get the girl to stop at the ally, now phase two get her to Adrian." the only problem was he had no idea how to achieve phase two...yet.

Marinette at that moment still muttering about how she had the worst luck to her bag started to pick up her grocery bag and began to refill it with the goods she bought. He began to worry as the moment that she was finished with her task she would get up and leave, but he needed her here. Then plagg noticed some canned food in the alley on its side ready to roll...'Given a push' plagg sneered wickedly another wide grin on his lips. "Come on one more." he whispered to himself as he charged up another jolt waiting for the right moment. Plagg watching as marinette having picked up most of the things and returned them to her bag started getting up getting ready to leave. "No. No. No. No." plagg thought frantically "Notice the can, notice the can!" he screamed internally wanting the blue head to notice the item. And as if by the grace of an angle just as she was about to leave turned her head and low and behold ,"Huh looks like a missed one." She started taking a step towards it leaning down "Better not forget these, ever scene's mama's and papa's trip to the u.s father had a taste for these things." she said aloud not that plagg cared.

watching as marinette approached and was just about to nab the can fired again hitting the can on the side. Put unlike a regular projectile once he jinxed an object it did exactly what he wanted. and almost immediately much to marinette confusion it took off further into the ally. Plagg watch the blue hair who stopped to stare at the can before groaning as she went after the it. If not for the seriousness of the whole thing would have started laughing. Following close behind out of sight he watched as the can conveniently stopped rolling right in front of Adrian face. "Just like I planned" plagg thought grinning madly. Continuing to observe as marinette closed in on Adrian it was obvious that she did not trust the boy at first probably thinking him just a random stranger. Acted accordingly as she neared adrian's unconscious form with an air of caution. As she got close it was clear she could tell something was off "come on that's it." plagg muttered as he watched.

Plagg listened as marinette bless her soul said "sir?...Are you alright." she said clearly worried. At plaggs current distanced guessed that she could tell there was something off just by listening to Adrian. Hearing no answer must have assumed she was being ignored as she setting the umbrella down then went for the can bending over to get it in the processes as to not spill the bag in her hand. Gripping said can in her hands that when she started to look up and that when plagg knew he succeeded from his place of hiding above. As a moment later she said "Adrian?" uttered breathlessly in a state of complete shock at what she was seeing. while plagg meanwhile just stared with a smile looking quite pleased with himself "Score."


	2. prolge part 2 Marinette

Prolag part 2 Marinette

All right miraculous fan who in my opinion are the best kind of fans I hope you're having a good day because it's about to get better the second prologue chapter of my fic is now out and ready to read. Now I know what some of you might be wondering that it seems a little shorter compared to the last one. And you're right it is and it was supposed to be longer, but doing more then this would affect the passing of the story I felt and would take too much away so I created this. Also in case you can't tell I'm using a new spelling program now so there should be far fewer mistakes then there was last time. (cross your finger) so that should make a lot of people happy for sure. Also this chapter was to set more of the back story for my...well story filling in some of the detail that will be use again a lot more much later like ayla, nino, chloe, and so on. Also in case you're worried most of the cast of the show will be making appearances at some point throughout the story. However some of the secondary characters will have bigger roles than others. well everyone accepted the pigeon man I don't think I will use him unless it's necessary as there basically nothing to work with. Alright I think that enough from me you came here for the story and a story you shall have. So enjoy comment and if you really like it fave it and as always let me know if I made any mistakes.

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Marinette was a very pleased girl as the day while rainy could not have gone better she had not had any accidents in nearly a month. Her friend ayla got a paying job reporting on things like lady bug to name one. She had graduated from school and was trying her hand in the fashion industry and there had not been an accident that required her special attention. All in all a great day regardless of the rain she could not be happier as she carried her ladybug print umbrella, and ladybug themed boots as she went on her merry way back towards home. Beside her in her side pouch happily enjoying the company of her partner above her.

Smiling as she walked her attention was brought back by a tiny voice at her side "Hay marinette are you sure we got enough?". Looking to her side she could see her little kwami looking up at her with her wondrously happy looking eyes. Marinette continued to smile however as she answered "Don't worry tikki I'm sure we do. And if not we will just go and get more when the time comes." she said determination clear as day, or it would be if the sun was out. "That's the spirit." tiki said happily because in the past few years marinette and tiki had been together marinette's confidence skyrocketed. Not to the point of being rude or pompous but now she went through every day as though she where ladybug and not the clumsy old marinette. Tiki however always chalked it up to marinette believing she was unlucky and all she needed was to believe in herself, and now she did.

However as she thought about it speaking of her parents and all she could not help but chuckle gaining a confused look from tiki. "Sorry tiki." she said looking at the spirit apologetically before continuing "I was just thinking how silly it is where getting some things for christmas when it's still the first week of november." marinette said humorously. This however made tiki look confused "Why's that?" she asked. "I thought you love christmas." the little kwami finished. And marinette had to smile at this "Well I do but I do not see why we need to right now when halloween was just last week I mean it's almost a month and a half away. I get that it's mom's favorite holiday and all but still." she said wondering why her mother always started plaining so early. Tiki just laughed however "Maybe she just enjoys preparing for it rather than the actually event. I mean have you ever done something and enjoyed to work or the preparation of something over the final piece?" tiki asked. Marinette herself was taken off guard by the question but thought about what tiki said for a minute. "Himm? I guess I never thought about it that way before." She started pausing in place for a moment to think "I suppose it's like how I like to make cloths and other such things for people more than I enjoy making them for myself." she finished coming to a decision. "Exactly marinette!" The spirit said smiling and marinette smiled back as the headed back to her parents place.

Thinking back to her parents again she had thought about moving out a few time but sided against it at least for the time being. Mostly due to the fact that if she wanted to run her own fashion shop she would need to find a place to do it and in paris that was a tall ask. Not impossible just difficult. Plus her parents needed the extra help in the bakery any way. They used to have some working for them that did most of their delivery's and helped out in the kitchen. But left to work at rival bakery and because of that they were short handed. Lucky marinette had just recently graduated at the time he quit and was able to pick up the slack till they could find someone to replace tom's old assistant. However till they did find a new apprentice baker she would have to put off her own dreams for the time being. Marinette did not mind though she knew that one day she would realize her dream. It would just take a little longer.

The pair continued their rainy walk back home until tiki once again said something of interest "Hay marinette I was just thinking. It's been a while scenics anyone has sighted cat noir you think he's ok?" she asked out loud. Marinette had to prevent herself from scoffing at the mention of cat just remembering him was cringeworthy. But even if the can annoyed her to no end she would never wish harm on him. And she answered as such "honestly tiki. I don't know it's been nearly a year and ten months last time we seen him. so who knows. Maybe he just got tired of there not being any more akuma to fight and got bored and moved on. I mean he was always an adrenaline junkie." Marinette was being truthful about this and tikki could tell and it was true she could not even begin to guess why he just left. Last time either of them seen him he was walking away from the scene of a bank robbery after the crooks were caught, and to both ladybug and tiki look for the most part perfectly fine.

Tiki was quiet for a few minutes thinking about it still seemed to put her off "Maybe...it just doesn't seem like something he would do. He would never abandon ladybug" she countered weakly having no near proof either way. But they both knew that it was the only real explanation killing a miraculous holder with ordinary means was virtually impossible, enough people had tried already to prove that. Prolonged exposure to the miraculous increased the users abilities to the point that only impossible odds could kill one without resorting to extreme measures. And they knew he would not just leave paris it was evident that he loved the city almost as much as ladybug. In not more so. The internet was no help as marinette did not even want to list some of the ideas that people had when she did occasional check out of curiosity. Her least favorite fan theories where he died, he got injured after a case and was paralyzed, ladybug dumped him and he left rejected. And her absolute least favorite lady bug and cat got married and cat was looking after their children. letting out an angry huff at the memory of the one honestly it made her wonder where people came up with this stuff.

But all that aside cat noir was inherently a thrill seeker and loved an adrenaline rush and what bigger rush could you get then an akuma attack. And while they knew if things got bad and she needed help both girl and kwami knew he would come in charging with staff in hand and jokes in mouth. So either way regardless of what happened they were left with a mystery. And that mystery being what happened to her ex-partner cat noir. However thinking of the cat boy it made marinette frown as just a couple of months before their last meeting with cat noir adrian agrest disappeared. No note, no warning, nothing he just vanished without trace.

In that moment tiki looked up sadly at marinette he now had a frown upon her face "you're thinking about adrian again aren't you?" It was true she never could get over him. While true it was not his fault that hawkmoth was his father and while in the end with the media baring down on his neck it any relationship might have ended badly anyway. Still she could not get over the fact that adrian just left... But looking down at her kwami she needed to give tiki an answer and liying would be a wasted effort. "Yes I was." she said flatly "I just can't get over the fact that he just ran away". A clear amount of hollowness was in her voice and it was true she couldn't get over it. Tikki gave her a sympathetic look understanding what she meant. "I under stand. But marinette it's not your fault he felt ashamed of what his father had become and could not bare the attention any longer and left to escape his own pain. That is not your fault." Tikki said trying to reassure the girl. But it no such thing "Ya I know... But. I can't help but feel sorry for him all he wanted was to be himself without his father pressing down on him and now his life is ruined."

Tikki listened to her partner and friend carefully adrian's old life if you could call it one was destroyed. But binging herself down over it was not going to change anything. "Your right his old life is gone. But look on the bright said." tiki said out loud to cheer the girl up until she realized what she said. "What bright side?" marinette asked who had looked back down to her kwami for a moment after watching the road ahead. Tikki was pressed for an answer sho honestly had not put thought into "Well...you see." she stuttered. Then an idea hit her "well you see adrian always wanted to be free of the people who oppressed him." She said hoping that cheered her up. "Guess so" she responded it didn't really seem to be working. Tikki then realized how stupid what she said was as of course it would not cheer her up as adrian may have gained freedom but lost everything else.

Not sure what else to do when tiki remembered something and smiled. "Also don't forget chloe." tiki stated humorously. Marinette however grunted in disgust which was to be expected. Tiki however ignored marinette and continued, "well think about it chloe was always clinging to adrian and posting pictures about online about him. But after the hawk moth fiasco with gabriel when people realized how much she was into adrian...AND! how many people after he was unmasked complained about how she got them turned in to akuma, she was in almost as much hot water if not more than gabriel." Tikki stated humorously laughing near the end as a memory of a mob of people outside the hotel where she and her father the mayor lived sounding like they wanted to hang her. And while neither she nor marinette would ever condone such actions.

Ever they also could not deny they got pleasure out of watching chloe getting what she had coming to her. Heck even now people still treated her like a snake in the grass. In fact last time she check or more accurately last time she heard from ayla that is. Chloe stayed almost exclusively inside the hotel behind closed doors as the fallout from the last hawk moth attack had people after. Infacted it go so bad at one point that you could not watch a single episode of a tabloid show or magazine without seeing her in it being joked about. Now while she would not wish that kind of life on anyone being forced to live the life of a recluse essentially. She also could not deny that chloe had it coming eventually as with her attitude she was bound to do something that would get her into even more trouble.

It took a minute but then a wide smile pressed itself forcible on marinette marinette face at the memory. "ya I suppose you right." she said suppressing her laugh "people still touch her with a ten foot pole after that." she joke and tiki laughed. It was nice having marinette smiling again. "Thank you tikki I needed that." marinette said looking down at her long time friend and partner. The kwami's smile only widened "you welcome any time marinette. After all what else are friends for anyway?" marinette just laughed at tikkis answer drawing confused looks from a few people who were still out despite the weather. "Friends are there to help each other" marinette answered. "And don't you forget it either" the kwami quipped humorously casing them both to laugh good heartedly.

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They continued on this path talking back and forth with topic of adrian while needing to be resolved one day was momentarily forgotten. Then out of nowhere tiki gasped sucking in a large amount of air got, well large for her size that is. A worried look formed on her partners face "what is it tiki?" marinette asked stopping worried at what her kwami snessed. Tikki just look up from her spot in the side bag "I...I...I. I scenes karma. Bad...bad luck magic." the little spirit said repeating herself surprising the girl above. "Cat?" she asked with out pause only for tiki to shake her head. "I don't know. Cat noir can use bad luck destruction but so can other people if they know how." tiki responded. At first the blue haired wielder wanted to counter that it was impossible but thinking about it it perfected made scenes magic could in theory be used by literally anyone. And who's to say that cat is the only one who can case bad luck with magic."What should we do?" marinette asked her kawami friend. "Be careful." was the red spirits answer. Having little other choice not knowing the nature of the magic they started moving again.

They continued down on their original path marinette gripping the umbrella she held tightly in unease. Thinking about what tiki sensed in worry as bad luck magic could cause great harm if left unchecked. She was about to ask a question when going unnoticed a little black spark struck the ground in front of her and "whoo!". Before she realized it her whole world was moving round and next thing she realized it was dark, she was getting wet, and her face hurt. Though thankfully noone was around to see it happen.

It took a second to have what happened register but she quickly figured out she had tripped...Again... Groaning in frustration and slight pain from her face rubbing on cement she pushed off the ground got up. "Ow. And i thought my luck was finally changing" She complained. "Are you ok?" her kwami asked but it fell on deaf ears as she tried to makes scenes of what happened. Putting a hand to her now sore head "ow that hurt. And I hadn't had an accident for over a month to" she said as she felt a spot that would likely bruise. Looking around she could see her things the grocery's and umbrella lying strewn about. then turning her gaze down and back she could was what she tripped on being a razed cement paving stone. But she was sure that it was flat before wasn't it. "Ahh! nothing's making any seances today!" she screamed unhappy that her good luck record got broken. And to make matters worse the bag with groceries was half empty luckily nothing appeared broken or damaged aside from a few scrapes and dings, but no spills thankfully.

Having collected herself enough and her previous fears and worries about the karma magic forgotten picked up the fallen bag and started picking up the fallen grocery's. Being forced to leave her umbrella discarded needing to pick up the groceries before anything else happened meant she was getting wet and she was not happy about it. "And I was having such a good day to." she muttered wishfully as her mood was ruined when she fell. "I can't believe this. Ahhg!" She continued to grumble as she finished picking up the last of the items that were strewn about the area. But as she did so should could not help shake the feeling of being watched. Then she sensed something off. She was not sure what but she did not like it. There was a certain similarity to cat noirs cat-aclysm attack, however where cats attack was dark it did not feel malicious. This felt different dark and pleasure, chaotic even. But at the same time an unsettling familiarity to it which sent a tiny shiver down her spin.

Having enough of this got up to leave not wanting to stay in the area when she did not have all of her powers available to her. Have all the groceries back in there bag and collected her umbrella she ready to set out. As much as she wanted to investigate it was broad day light out and she could not transform now. There was too great a chance of someone seeing her or risk her parents getting suspicious for that matter. She would have to come back latter and check it out however she would have to come back with her spots on next time. Having gotten up she was about ready to leave when "Marinette! Look! You missed one" she suddenly heard her kwami tiki say making her look to the side and much to her surprise in the alley was a can. 'The can must have rolled away when I fell' she said to herself as she went to retrieve the last one remaining. she started taking a step towards it leaning down "Better not forget these, ever senes mama's and papa's trip to the u.s father had a taste for these things." stating it for no reason as it brought a smile to her face.

Bending over to pick up she almost let out a yelp of surprise when it suddenly rolled away at a good speed as though someone had swatted it away from her. Marinette was just speechless having stared for a moment as the can just rolled deeper into the alley. 'What?' was the only thought that crossed her mind as she just stared at the can confused at what just happened. 'Did the can just move all on its own? But that's impossible isn't it the ground not even off level'. Groaning as she went after the renegade can thinking 'just my luck' the whole time. While this was going on watching from the shadows was a tiny pair of eyes connected to black cat flouting a safe distance behind them. Unknown to the pair as there attention was one other things and not this grinning rogue cat.

Following the run away as it turned slightly as it stopped in front of a...Person. Ya it was a person lying face down in the alley way there back facing towards marinette. This caught marinette off as why would there be a person sleeping in the alley. which made another question come to her being 'why would even a homeless person be lying out in the rain' making her wonder. Being suspicious that it could be a trap of some kind she made her approach slow and deliberate but always keeping her eyes on...Him?...perhaps? Stepping closer now about only six feet from him caution was probably showing as a strange sound hit her ears. It sounded like breathing but it was slow heavy and raged, almost rasping even. Could he be sick? She wondered deciding the person had to deep a voice to be a girl...But at the same time the person was small and definitely as thin as a girl. As the person was even shorter then she was by several inches by the looks of it.

As she got even closer it sounded like the breathing was coming from the man confirming her suspicions. her mind racing at this trying to decide on a course of action as it could very well lead into a dangerous situation. 'I got to be careful. this is a stranger it could very well be bait for a trap like from one of those movies. He could just be pretending to be sick to trick me to get close so he can get the drop on me". Her eyes began wandering down slightly she seen the worried look of tiki through the crack in her bag and it was clear she thought the same thing she did. Looking back to the man she could hear his breathing more clearly and while her head was telling her this was a trap her heart said something else. "This has got to be a trick what else could it be. Heck maybe this is the source of magic tiki sensed...But... if this man is not faking it and is actually seriously hurt and may need medical attention". This internal argument was soon over and in the end her heart won...sort of. She would see if the man needed help. But she would be extremely costus just on the off chance it was a trap...just in case. "Sir?" she said hoping to get the man's attention... But nothing. Seeing no response she tried again "Sir are you alright?" she asked this time but again nothing not even a twitch. Grimacing at this result as he was ether very good at faking or out cold. Which was not good as if he was out cold that meant he was seriously hurt.

Seeing as how the man would not move she decided to make a go for the can and then use that as an excuse to see if he was awake or not. Bending down being careful not to spill her cargo got into a crouching position not the best it this was a trap but if needed she would say "Spots on" at a moment's notice she would not let anyone die under her watch. then setting her umbral down to the side used her now free hand to go for the can. reaching over she picked up the can and then stole a glance towards the man's what she thought unsuspecting face. And what she saw was not much as the man? Boy's...hood was pulled down in front obscuring his face. Making it impossible to tell who it really was.

By this point now having collected the last can she stored it in her bag holding her umbrella tightly in hand unsure of what to do. Then she noticed her umbrella, and while this would be rude it would be an effective way to see if he was awake or not without endangering herself. Lowinger the pointed under of her umbrella casing rain to come back down on the bluenette she brought it to the stranger's shoulder and nudged the stranger's shoulder with it. She did this several times before stopping as the whole time it did not flinch, reacted or budge. So this meant whoever this was they were completely out cold and would not likely ster no matter the stimuli. Which upon thinking about it gave her an idea.

"TIkki come on out." marinette asked wanting her kwami partner to show herself. Tikki while clearly unser opened the bag up more to see the bluenette better but there was clear worry in her eye's. "What is it marinette you know I shouldn't show myself what if someone see's me?" tikki ever the worrier and while normally she would agree this time however was an exception to the rule. "Don't worry tikki he out cold and even if he does wake up he will be too disoriented to notice. All I need you to do is to prop him up so we can see his face so we can take a picture to send to ayla so we can find out who he is." tikki for all her point had to admit she was being a little over worried and marinette was right with ayla's connections they would be able to figure out who he was in no time so when they called the authority's the would know who he is. "Thats a great Idea marinette" tikki beamed "I'm on it." the then called out as she slipped from her pouch. And while tikki did that marinette was trying and struggling to reach for her phone without dropping her umbrella.

While marinette struggled with her phone tikki got behind the stranger's head and grabbed the top half of the hood and began pulling with great effort. Though a kwami was strong for there size it was not to be mistaken as even tikki could only pull so much alone. Tikki pulling with all her might raised the person's head off the ground about an inch or so and began to turn their head when. "SLIP! Whooo!" tikki shouted as she lost her grip on the wet fabric and slipped off and flew into the adjacent wall. "tikki!" marinette shouted worried for her partner but her attention was quickly diverted as tikkis efforts were not in vail as the hood slid from his face putting it into view. And what she saw to say shocked her was an understatement to say the least. As the what she saw rattled her right down to her vary core. As the vary face she was looking at was the same face she looked for every time she went on patrol. The same face she hoped would one day show up again at her door step. The same face she had longed to see for nearly three years. and in her dazed state she was only ably to uttered a single name the name of the person she say "adrian?"

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OK phew that was a good chapter ok hope you enjoyed that ladybugs and gentle cats as this chapter I had to re go over twice to make sure everything made scenes and worked together. Ether was this is the end of the second prolog chapter in the next chapter we will get more into what happened to adrian and get him medical attention as well as maybe a hot bat as well heaven knows he needs one. Either way hope you liked it enjoy the next chapter should be coming out sometime next month lates if all goes well and we will see more of adrian and marinette shipping in the next one. So without further adieu HAVE A FABULOUS DAY EVERYONE! AND CAT YA LATER!


	3. chapter I bath and bed

Ok Meow-llo I'll make this real quick because of all the positive reviews last week I stormed through the production of this chapter and I have it out way before I originally thought possible. So for that thank you and hear is your sweet reward. Also from now on I decided that each chapter barring a few will have a primary P.O.V which will be announced at the beginning which will tell who the main focus of the chapter will be on. Other then that no major changes will be made as I have a pretty good idea of where the story is going. Other then that I may make some minor changes as needed to this and any other chapters with any minor errors. With all that out of the way Purr-ights! Paw-mera! Meow-tion!

Chapter one-Bath and bed

(marinette)

"Adrian?" marinette was in utter shock not realizing she said the boy's name she could not believe what she was seeing making her drop her umbrella. The boy that she had her eye's on for years at school who sat in front of her and ayla. The boy who disappeared a few day's after his father was arrested and given a life stint in prison. The boy who somehow vanished without trace for years and through fruitless search remained lost. But now he was here...Right here...In front of her. But how and why was he hear of all places as they were maybe ten or fifteen minutes walk from the bakery. Did that mean that adrian was within arms length this inter time and she did not notice. On all those patrols she took and every time she had searched in the past for him he was this close the enter time. She couldn't believe it how could he be so close she did not even help. And she was lady bug how could she not help someone in need much less adrian. And she was ladybug for goodness sake how could she be so blind to this?

She was so self absorbed that she did not notice how wet she was getting or "marinette. MARINETTE"! Yelping in surprise as her kwami shouted in front of her face looking at the startled girl with an irritated gaze. Looking down she seen tiki's worried gaze "w-wh-what" she stuttered breathlessly still trying to process what was happening. Tikki just shook her head clearly not amused "he needs you help look." The ladybug spirit commanded point towards adrian and that's when she noticed. "Cough, Cough, Cough" adrian began coughing up a storm hacking and choking on his own breath. And looking closer she could see his face marred with dirt and sweat. his cheeks red with fever and sickness. And to top it off the poor boy was soaked with rain and was shaking in place like a withering leaf in the wind.

Eyes going wide marinette sprung into action immediately putting away her phone and picking up her umbrella. She then placed her umbrella over adrian to keep rain off him as best she could creating a small ring of dryness for him. She then began to look around for a dry patch where the rain had not yet reached as adrian needed to dry off. Fast. Looking around from left to right before finally noticing some ground that was mostly dry nearby one of the building where rain was fall around, but not on. "Tikki!" marinette exclaimed gaining the red spirit's attention "hold the umbrella while I move adrian." she commanded to the kwami. The little spirit nodded before saying "right!" in response as she quickly charged for the handle. Marinette now having a free hand dashed around adrian and set the grocery bag down on part of the dry patch before returning to tiki and adrian. Now with both hands now free and tiki doing her best to hold the umbrella up to kee adrian dry. Marinette was now free to begin moving adrian without worry of the groceries getting lost again or her umbrella. Rolling him on his back it was clear that he was dead to the world right now and would be for some time. She then grabbed from under his shoulders and started pulling him towards the dry spot. It took a bit of effort Luckily ironically enough she had gain quite a bit of muscle for a girl of her disposition thanks to tiki. Soon adrian was finally in the dry patch and was propped up against the wall and thankfully his breathing improved slightly.

Sighing in relief now that adrian was relatively safe from the rain picked up the grocery bag to keep it from picking up moisture. And then her most immediate task was done and good thing too as tiki could not hold the umbral any longer and fell only to be caught by marinette. "Sorry. I tried but holding it up but it was too hard with this weather." iki expressed clearly disappointed in herself. Marinette however just smiled at her thankful for her freinds effort "it's alright you did your best..." marinette was truly grateful to her little kwami friend. But. She thought worried with a serious edge to it "right now we need to get adrian help." she stated worried as she knew adrian's health would only deteriorate the longer they they stayed here. However tiki just looked at marinette with saddened eyes "but how?" she asked "people whenever they see adrian all the see is hawk moth. It could be years till people release adrian from blame and he doesn't have that long by the looks of things." Tiki and marinette knew deep down she was right even if they brought him to a hospital they would never treat him. Not without accidentally killing him that is.. Then getting an idea "hay tiki what about master fu? he's a healer right?" she asked hopeful remembering how he helped save the red kwami once before. Tiki however shook her head "sorry but master fu isn't that kind of healer. While he does run a clinic his specifically its message therapy and acupuncture clinic he does know how to hell sickness. And even then he only know's how to heal people's spirits and souls with magic not the body.". Hearing this caused her stomach to drop like a stone as this was not what she wanted to hear.

Thinking hard there were few options available ' as a regular doctor would probably turn adrian away once they saw him. Even if that's illegal to do so as people's hatred ran too deep. And even if they did over look adrian's parents the chance of the press finding out about him was too great. Adrian needed rest and if they found out about adrian he would never be left alone much less in peace. And once the press found him and reported it any one and I mean anyone with a lingering grudge would come after him. What to do? she wondered silently worried for the boy next to her just wanting to put him at ease. Then her eye's widened as a light bulb went off in her head her head sprung up and she look to her spirit friend "tikki!". Immediately she could hear her little kwami yelp in surprise before looking at her "yes?" she asked confused at her partner's sudden change her demeanor and behaviour. but marinette just smiled widely to her little red friend and said "get my phone."

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few minutes later at the Dupain-Cheng residence

It was a relatively peaceful day at the barkery all the orders had been filled the baking done and now it was just wait till closing time. Even with the dismal weather the residents at the bakery could not be happier that day. Sabine was sitting down behind the counter looking over a few papers a pleased expression on her face. Said papers where some paperwork that needed to be looked over and as there was no customers at moment now was as good as a time as any. Thankfully these papers had only good news as the numbers indicated they were going up again which always made her happy as it meant less worry trying to make money. Unfortunately a small frown graced her face remembering how a when they lost their old assistant backer they had lost quite a bit of money along with a handful of their recipes. it made her upset how they treated him like family and he betrayed them just for the money one of their rival bakeries. it would not have been bad if he just quit but he basically stole from them and not just that but he took recipes her and tom spent years perfecting. And it only added salt to a wound when they found out the could not press charges as there was no clear sign of who the rightful owner was. After all this happened they made a rule about not mentioning his name for sake of forgetting about it. Though they did get some satisfaction from the fact that not more than six months later the man who stole from them get fired and was from what the rumors said unemployed.

Sabines soured mod soon faded though and she was smiling again as she could not help but be happy and excited to tell her husband the good knews. Her and tom had wanted to take a family vacation but because of their financial difficulties had to put it off. But now they could finally take their vacation as early as january next year. Just thinking about it made her happy as that means they could take a family trip again just like they used to. But it also made her somewhat sad as well for what it would also mean soon. Marinette was an adult, she was nineteen now almost twenty meaning soon she would be leaving her's and tom's lifes to start her own soon. While it made her proud to see her grow up she sometimes wondered where the time had gone wanting to spend a little more with her girl. Though coming to think of it sabin suspected that marinette had started making plans to move out some time ago. However suspected she only staying to help them get back on their feet till they could hire more help and once they did she would leave. But time had moved and she needed to move with it and they would spend what would likely be there last family trip together and they would enjoy it to the fullest.

Sabin then began to wonder where they could take such a trip and was considering asking tom in the back when. "Ring. Ring. Ring." getting her attention as the phone started ringing making her stare at the wall mounted phone for a moment. Sabin was about to get out of her chair tom shouted "could you please get that hon I have my hands-fu-ll at the moment." and as if to prove this point she heard the sound of metal banging. Sabine momentarily flinched at the sound of banging metal coming from in the back but said not as she knew he would be fine. Far worse accident have happened in the past. Most likely tom just had his hands full of this morning's baking trays. So deciding to find out who was calling she got out of her chair she made her way to wall mounted phone and answered.

"Hello? Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. Sabine speaking how-" sabine said in the phone remain professional trying to sound good for business. However she was cut off mid sentence. "Mom! Thank goodness. I tried calling home but no one answered. I thought no one would ever answer." marinette said hastily to the unprepared mother relief evident in her voice clearly glad to hear sabine voice. Sabine was completely surprised by her daughter's sudden out burst making the mother worry for her daughter's safety. Panic rising "marinette is that you? what's the matter?" she asked worried that she may have gotten hurt. She did not have to wait long for an answer however "don't worry mom I'm fine. But listen I need some help." the girl said clearly needing help. Sabine being a dutiful mother could not help but utter the words "help? Are you alright?". A moment later she started hearing marinette retold her story while she listened she could hear the door to the kitchen opening. And turning to look she could see tom with a worried look his face clearly having over heard her half of the conversation. However the biggest surprise was about to be revealed of his worry soon. Then sabines eye's opened wide in surprise "Adrian Agrest!" she said shocked mouth hanging agape unable to believe what she heard. Tom even taken by surprise lost balance and almost fell back into the kitchen from hearing the name. In that moment sabine then realized what she said covering her mouth before looking around to see that minus tom she was alone (and for once thankful they had no customers.) sighing in relief knowing how much trouble adrian could be in if people found out about him being in the area after what happened.

After another few seconds she began to listen as marinette brought her up to speed "he's sick." she said half asking. "I see. That a terrible thing to do to someone. Yes I'm glad you found him yes I'm vary proud of you." Sabine continued this for several seconds as she got more information on the situation. As she continued to listen much to tom's suspense she continued to mutter words into the phone as responses. "Ah uh, yes, hmmm. yes I see. yes I will. Ok. sure that will be- yes-yes alright see you soon. ok by." sabine said after a long string of responses before hanging up the phone. Letting out a sigh as the conversation left drained as such stressful situations often did to her.

Turning around she could see tom with a worried face looking at her intently clearly wanting an answer to what was going on. "Tom do you remember adrian?" asked suddenly catching him by surprise not expecting her to ask that. Tom himself had to think about it for a few moments even said "Adrian" to help recall. Then remembered "oh you mean the nice agrest boy that was in the news a year ago because of his father. Yes such a tragic story with what happened to him." he said remembering the look on marinette's face when he vanished. Sabine nodded in agreement as it was tragic but pushed on. "Well marinette has found him and he is vary sick and need are help as soon as possible." she stated. Tom took in this information? adrian was found and he was alive, but paused when he registered the word help, "what do we need to do." he asked. this made sabin smile at her husband's devotion "are you making any more deliveries this afternoon?" she asked. And tom for his part just shook his head no. "good because you need to make a pick up."

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Meanwhile back in the alley.

"Ok thank you. by" marinette said into her phone as her mother hung up on the other end with an audible click. Then a moment later her phone flew away from her face and plopped down in her lap along with the little spirit holding it. "Thank you tikki for doing that I'm sure it must have been hard for you." Marinette looked down in her lap as the little red luck spirit just laid in her lap panting slightly as she resting a minute under the umbrella. "It's ok marinette someone had to hold the umbrella to keep adrian dry and if you set the bag down the grocery's would get wet and would be ruined. Besides I was happy too it my duty after all as your partner to help you in any way I can to be a force of good." The little spirit responded smiling at the bluenet and received one in kind. After a moment marinette looked to her left where adrian was propped up against the wall of the building. While he almost "I just hope papa gets here soon. I don't know how long he will last in this it doesn't look like it will clear up any time soon." she said looking up slightly at the cloudy sky through her polka dot umbrella. Tikki however got in front of marinette with her usual pleasant expression "don't worry marinette have I ever let you down?" tiki asked. Marinette however was confused by tikki's statement "um...no wait wha?". Marinette was unable to finish however as tiki continued "marinette i've never let you down because I care about you. And do your parents care about you and your feeling or adrian for that matter this way? Id say they care even more about you then I do. and have they ever let you down?" hearing this surprised marinette but then a small smile creeped up on her face "you're right tikki. I shouldn't worry. They will come soon it will just take some time we just have to wait...for...them." she said but had trouble finish as she began looking down at adrian's pale face. "Don't worry about adrian just have a little faith adrian help is on the way."

Marinette was grateful to tikki for her words as it really brought marinette mood up. While she still worried it was far less than before thanks to her friend's words. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard adrian start an intense coughing fit. Setting the bag in her lap as best she could while using her other hands to ease him forward. Tikki seeing this got behind him pushing him forward while marinette cepted him from falling. The whole thing looked rather funny but given the situation was anything but. As they had to try and get his coughing fit down however it was not going well.

Adrian continued to hack and sputter while marinette hold him up and at the same time tiki rubbed his back for comfort. After about two minutes of this his coughing subsided and his breath normalized a bit. Sighing in relief marinette pushed adrian back to to the wall while tiki got out of the way but stayed near by just incase adrian slid over. Once they were sure he would be fine tiki and marinette backed off before returning to their original positions next to the boy. "Thanks again tiki." she said relieved now that adrian was fine for now. Tikki just smiled brightly "no problem. I'm just glad I can be of help." the luck spirit said happily. Marinette opened her mouth to speak but then. "Beep Beep." could be heard casing both marinette and tiki to look at the entrance to the ally and what they saw was marinette's father tom in the family's car who waved them. "good he's here" said marinette smiled before standing up in between tikit and tom's view before saying "you had better hide tiki. Before he sees you." marinette did not have to wait long for a response. After marinette made sure tiki was well hidden as she waited waited for tom to come and help them move adrian. Ss tom came to them she could not help but wonder how her life was going to change after today. And little did she know how much her life was going to be impacted by their meeting.

Marionettes day could not have been any more eventful in her opinion unless a catastrophe happened (no joke intended). Once tom found the pair with his help loaded adrian up in the car thankfully without being noticed by anyone thanks in part to the weather. To marinette papa was the strongest man she knew so his strength would help with carrying adrian. But geven how frail he looked she would not be surprised if she could lift him. After all with all the muscle she had been putting on with tikki's help she bet she could do a lot of things she never even dreamed of. In fact not that she thought much of it she did not know how strong she was.

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Once inside the car the put adrian in the back with marinette sitting next to him to keep an eye on him. And for marinette the drive home could not have been any more stressful. Bringing him into the car without hurting him was one thing but what surprised both marinette and tom was the fact that adrian was well, marinette would hesitate saying sleep as it was clear it was not restful as he moved and moaned in pain. But he was out cold the whole time and while that was not much of a condolence but at least he could not feel pain. For now at least. Once inside though they got in the van and started heading for home.

The drive itself was uneventful thankfully as they brought him back only stopping here and there for traffic. And tom made sure he was extra careful so as to avoid being stopped or risk anyone seeing adrian. On the way back tom asked her how she found him as sabine was somewhat unclear as well as how well she knew the boy and the like. And while she did not like how he was asking her these questions like she was dating a convict she did appreciate how much he cared. It was pretty obvious that he was worried about the boy's health as well and just making sure she knew what she was getting into. That and marinette knew that while he never admitted it he was rather fond of the boy when he visited. And that deep down she knew he always wanted a son to raise a teach the business. marinette knew that while he would never change anything she also knew that her papa would have loved to have raised a son. and she suspected that he seen some of that in adrian when he used to visit back before the hawk moth mess happened.

It took about twenty minutes thanks to the traffic but eventually they got back home without much problem. Using common scenes tom made sure that they took the back way not wanting to have adrian seen by anyone who could recognize. They then helped him walk or that should read carried him in through the front door as carefully as possible. Apparently sabine had been waiting for them as once they got him inside the house. Sabin gave all but one look at adrian before telling tom to gently let him down on the couch so she could examine him. After which sabine went into over protective mother mode after showing tom and marinette away. Tom meanwhile said he would be down in the bakery if they needed him and while sabine clearly did not hear this marinette would be sure to mention it if needed.

Marinette stood nearby out of the way watching the scene unfold before her as her mother looked over adrian. And judging from the not so good look on sabine's face it was less than good news for adrian. Sabine first checked his temperature by placing a hand over his forehead to check his forehead. The frown on her face got very large at this as she quickly released her hand back with a gasp. Sabine then checked his pulse after which she moved on to opening his eyes to see his response to light. And now both marinette and sabian could see his pale white and glassy unable to focus on anything. Watching her mother inspected adrian's health marinette could not help but stare in awe. And while her mother never had any professional training she was more than experienced at helping the sick.

After checking the boy over sabine looked up at marinette and spoke in a serious tone "marinette we will need to talk about this later...But for now we need to help adrian." Marinette for her part nodded looking determined look on her face ready to help her mother in any way. "Sabine smiled at her daughter's determination before sobering up before turning back to task, and what a task they had. "Now marinette get a bath going and hurry." sabine said confusing the girl which would have been funny normally but this was not one of those times. However sabine explained "Look as much as I would like to start treating him now and try to get his fever down. He is absolutely filthy and that will only compromise his health. And that's not counting his filthy clothes that he's wearing that need to be addressed. Now marinette get going." The woman said getting a nod of understanding making her smile "Good now get get going." sabine demanded and marinette left her mother and adrian alone. After making sure marinette left went back to checking the poor sick boy over just in case he had any other surprises she would rather find now. however she dreaded this task before her as she gazed down to his face looking at it with a look of pity. "My you poor boy just what hardships have you had to endure?" she asked to the boy knowing he could not answer as her motherly instincts taking over.

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While this was going on marinette was sitting in the bathroom on the tub setting up a bath while trying to focus. At first the prospect of giving adrian a bath, much less while he's out cold made her face heat up. Luckily it did not redden as that would have been embarrassing to say the least. But she reminded herself that adrian need to be cleaned first before being able to treat treat him as it would logically do no good. As trying to treat whatever is ailing him while he's dirty if he gets an infection or something. Plus she also half expected her mother's vary clean disposition about keeping dirt out of the house had a role to play in it. But Marinette said nothing as there was no point.

As she did this she could feel the bag at her side open but did not look as she knew who it was. "Marinette? are you alright?" The little kwami asked and in all honestly marinette had to asked herself that same question as even she did not know the answer to that question. How do you answer a question like that anyway? The question itself was inherently simple "Am I alight?" But the answer itself was inherently difficult to answer though as. How does one answer that? Her friend adrian who she had a crush on for over a year was lying in an ally sick with no home or loved ones to care for him and the city hated him. And to top it off she herself truly did love him more then anything...but did he? She had heard nino say that he was smitten with ladybug, and while yes technically she was ladybug but he did not know that. And as much as she wanted to tell him her feelings she also did not want to stomp on his feelings for ladybug as funny as that sounds. In the end however marinette left her feelings unresolved and marinette confused and lost as to what to do.

Looking down she could see in her distraction the tub had almost filled to a comfortable level. So shutting off the water she got off her perch on the side of the tub getting up to do her next task. She then noticed the nervous look on tikki's face clearly vary worried for her holder,partner and friend. Marinette just gave her a smile before rubbing her little head "i'm fine tiki." she said in an even tone. "it's just been a var long day with everything that's happened. Then I meet adrian again and...it's just been a long day". Tikki however did not look totally convinced but said nothing as she let out a Heavy sigh "alright." was the spirits only response. Marinette knew this would not be the end of the discussion however she could tell tikki respected that right now was not a good time and that it would wait. She would wait for her to desice when she was ready to talk about what was bothering her.

After coming to this slight agreement marinette left the bathroom and told her mother that it was ready. Sabine thanked her before asking her to help her get him in the bathroom so they could bathe him. While not easy for sabine as she was not as strong as tom was. But for marinette it was not too difficult to get adrian in the bathroom as he was extremely light and her new found powers. Once they got him laid down on the floor sabine had her fetch some spare clothes and swim trunks that they kept on hand when her cousin visited. Now why they had spare clothes of her cousin is a story for another time.

So without pause she quickly left to fetch the spare cloths leaving adrian in her mother's good care. Going to the storage room on the main housing floor that was a spare room they used primarily as a storage closet for some of their extra things. Opening the door to see a small room filled with boxes and a pair odd dressers that were used for storage. "Tiki check that dresser for the swim trunks. I'll look over here for the pjs." she said looking at her partner a fire of determination burning, however also trepidation as she struggled to remember where everything was. Tiki flew beside her head "I'm on it marinette" she said as she went straight for the dresser. Marinette meanwhile was trying to remember which box the pajamas would be in as there were well over two dozen. Sighing in defeat she walked over to a random pile of boxes and began sifting through them at random not having any better ideas. And while a random search was going to take much longer than an educated one. The fact was she had no idea where they were so short of getting luck on her first few tries it was going to take a while.

Kneeling down she pulled out several boxes opening them a box at a time pulling a few item at a time out. Then not seeing what she was looking for closed them before putting them back in a different pile to prevent a mix up. She continued checking them this way till she found the one that contained the set of pajamas. They were a little big especially considering how small adrian was but marinette knew she could take them in a little bit later as needed. Once done she closed the box before sliding it back with the others. Leaving the other cloths behind for now as she got to her feet before looking at the stack of boxes the contained the rest of the cloths she figured that adrian was unlikely in need of any outside cloths for quite some time.

Finished with her task she turned around to see tiki struggling to open a dresser drawer that appeared to be sticking. Seeing this was exactly what marinette needed to cut the tension as she was unable to suppress a laugh. Thankfully tiki did not hear it as she was far too preoccupied with the drawer to notice. Walking over to the struggling kwami cloths in hand "do you need help tiki?" she asked half expecting the answer to come. Grunting heavily as she watched the little spirit pull as hard as she could she received her answer with clenched teeth "no I got this.". And almost as if by magic the draw opened suddenly surprising tiki casing her to let go and fly across the room from the force it took to open the drawer. "Are you alright tiki?" marinette ask trying to stifle a laugh. "I'm fine." the kwami said picking itself up off the ground before flying back to the dresser. Tikki then flew into the dresser and came out with a pair of blue swim trunks with a scale pattern on them. "See I told you I could get it." tiki said to her showing one of her rare but present bought of pride. Marinette seeing this honestly wanted to tease her as sometimes did when she got overly frustrated. But sobered up as they both needed to focus as sabine need the cloths they found and would likely need her help as well.

Having all that they needed for the the time being tiki flew to marinette with the shorts and handed them to her. Taking the shorts from tiki the little spirit flew inside the purse both of them knowing that she would be unable to help any further till they were alone. For obvious reasons as her parents did not know about her alter ego and her ability's. In fact looking back on it she highly doubted that her parents would approve of her… hobbies lets sat. and suspected that should they find out they would be less than pleased with her for various reasons. Hopefully though that would never happen as she dreaded having that conversation with her parents. Not to mention having to explain tikki to them as well.

Leaving the spare room marinette quickly made her way back to the bathroom where her mother and an unconscious adrian where. However upon entering marinette paused completely frozen in place as her eyes wide in shock. Marinette was stuck in the doorway unable to move as she gazed upon adrian. As what she saw would haunt her for year to come that would leave nightmares in its wake.

Sabin had removed most of adrian's cloths save for his boxers and tossed them aside in a united pile in a laundry hamper. It was however his body that shocked her the most of all or what was left of it for that matter. His skin was pale with only a slight red tint from fever and a thin shin of sweat covering his skin. The skin of his chest hugged his bones as you could count all his ribs and every bone in his back. He looked transparently thin like he had eaten nothing for weeks possibly even months. His arms and leg from what she remembered from an old article about his athletic nature as he used to be ripe with muscle. But now only had skin and bone his strength have whither away to nothing.

Seeing the boy of her dreams like this made her honestly wonder for a moment if it even was adrian at all. What could have happened to him? when he disappeared i knew that people hated him for what his father did to the city... But this. she always figured that he left pairs and went to a small town in the country where people would not recognize him. However thinking about it made her realize how stupid that was and she blamed it on her happy ending do happen outlook on life. however what lay before her just showed her just what reality looked like, and that ladybug can't fix everything. Poor Adrian was a prime example of the being completely emaciated and save for his fever and the dirt covering his body no color what so ever.

"Marinette!" her mother suddenly snapped at her daughter from her shock induced stupor. She had felt like she had been standing there for several seconds when in reality it was over a minute and her mother had finally grown impatient with her daughter. "Marinette!" sabine said sharply snapping at the gaping girl again with the sudden sharpness tone. Marinette looked at her mother surprised for the angered remark she made at her her eye's saying that same. Her mother's face was not one of anger however more one of seriousness. After a short moment her face turned to one of remorse and sadness clearly seeing the hurt in her daughter from what she said. "Marinette." she started gaining the girl's ear, "I am aware that you care this boy. And his current appearance is...a shock to say the least." The young women said marinette hanging on to every word as she spoke. "However I'm am going to need your help in taking care of him. So please stay focused for his sake. After the ordeal he's been through he will likely need a good friend with all the mistreatment he has received. but right now he needs our care and if I am going to treat him I will need at your best.

Marinette was silent for nearly a minute and only adrian coarse breath could be heard amongst the silence. A look of determination then came over her face the fire in her eye's having been rekindled thanks to her mother's words. "What do need me to do." she asked her mother clearly ready to get to work. Sabin smiled at her daughter's new found strength tapping both her shoulders before getting up. "Now then we need to get him changed and washed so we can check him over and put him to bed". After this marinette was quick to help get the supplies to clean adrian. However when sabine began to remove his boxers "what are you doing!" marinette gasped in complete shock her face with panic. Sabine just looked at her with an innocent look "marinette I have to take them off to put on the swim trunks." Hearing this clearly did do anything for marinette though as her face red as could be was on display. Marinette glanced over to her purse which was not on the bathroom counter and she could see the eyes of tikki giving her a sympathetic look. Sabine however just looked at her somewhat amused even given the circumstances. "Marinette adrian will not be the first boy I look after and will likely not be the last. And if the was awake and able to do it himself i'd have him do it. As he is unable to do so under his own power we will have to dress him. Besides i've had to care and bath several of your relatives when they were young so you needn't feel embarrassed."

Marinette was beside herself unable to believe her mother and while it made scenes as they couldn't just leave him in the boxers. And until he was strong enough they would have to baby him as in this state it would be a surprise if he could even move. However ignoring this she immediately turned around and refused to look as her mother changed adrian. After this sabine called for marinette when the swim trunks were finally on and while they were a little big when strung up they would do. Once done they worked together to raise him into the tub before gently lowering his poor body into the warm water.

At this point marinette left to switch into a lavender one piece wetsuit before returning to let her mother sabine to leave as which into shorts and tee shirt and tying her hair back. After allowing adrian's body to get used to the temperature before beginning to scrub him as gently as possible. It became apparent that it would take more the one bath to clean adrian and ended up changing the water twice due to the amount of dirt and grime covering him. And as they cleaned it only became more apparent how poor of adrian was. As the dirt and grime was removed it slowly began reval pale white skin that was marred the dark red black and yellow spots. These unspeakable amount bruises were offset by a number of partially healed cuts and lacerations with some that were still opened and lightly bleeding.

This sight was enough to make bile raise in the back of marinette however she was able to keep it down and at pay... For now at least. They had also made sure to clean all his wounds to prevent infection as well as clean the ones that were. Following her mother's instructions begin to wash adrian's hair. As the warm waters began to run down the top of his head and washed by marinette caring hands his blond locks slowly returned. As his hair was cleaned and color returned it was also apparent how little color they had. His hair had lost its vibrant yellow color being replaced with more of a pale platinum blonde.

It took well over two hours to finally clean him as it took so long to pry the dirt from his body with harming him. After sabine finally deemed him clean they drained the tub before drying him off. Once dry sabine placed a towel on the floor while marinette lifted adrian out of the tub before lowered him down gently on the towel, much to sabines surprise. Stepping back from adrian marinette wiped her brow from some stray water a soap from her face. Meanwhile sabine opened up the first aid kit and began to clean and dress arians wounds. "Marinette we need to find find a place to sleep" the blue haired mother said while wrapping one of his cuts. Marinette straighten up immediately in surprise her face contorting in that of panic at the realization. "Well I...eh...ah...um?" marinette clambered out in a stuttering wreck something that she hadn't done for quite some time. Sabine looked at the girl sympathetically as this was a very unusual situation that the family found himself him. "Look I'm sorry and I know this is very last minute but we can not simply have him sleep on the couch." clearly sabin herself was entirely unsure of what to do as well.

Marinette tapped her lip in thought as she often did when her mind raced to find a solution to a problem. I'll be it maybe not always the right solution. Even glancing at poor tikki who could do nothing but watch her holder so long as sabine was in the room. Her mother was right they could not just let him sleep on the couch. I mean sure under normal circumstances for a guest that would do but this for from normal. Adrian was very sick he needed a proper bed to recover in and not some hastily cobbled together. Now sure forgetting to set up a place for him to sleep was definitely a major oversight however what was she supposed to do? Wait until they a sleeping arrangements made for him before bringing him home to help him.

This however did not last as marinette came to in her mind at least the only sensible conclusion. "He can stay in my room for now." However once said out loud she immediately realized what she just said and froze up. Sabine stopped what she was doing looking up from adrian who was starting to look like an extra in the mummy. "Marinette are you sure. While I understand that he need a proper place to sleep till he is well. Are you sure you want him sleeping in your room, because if you think you're sleeping in the room with him you sorely mistaken. As I don't need you getting sick amongst other things." Giver her slightly red faced daughter a questioning stare as she spoke.

Marinette however was far from amused by this however as she gapped in shock at her mother. "N-no wait!-tha-that's not what I meant!" she stuttered out in pure horror. "Its we don't have anywhere else for him and we don't have any time to set anything up. And.." she said trailing off becoming exasperated by the implications turning away unable to hide her changing face color. Her mother looked at her for several moments before sighing gently "All right however while he stays in your room you will be sleeping down stairs...you might be a grown woman but I will not have my daughter sleeping in the same room as a boy she is not married to in my house." Sabine said this while maybe not in a scolding manner but more as an undisclosed warning.

Marinette however was still frozen with embarrassment and only partly listened. "MARINETTE!" her mother shouted almost scaring the girl to death. while not one to raise her voice much less to her own daughter they needed to move. "Yes!" the startled girl said trying to normalize the color in her face. Her mother on the other hand just ignored this and continued where she left off "Marinette you get your room ready while I'll finish taking care of his cuts and bruises. Once your done will get him put to bed." Upon hearing her mother's plain marinette simply nodded following it up with a curt "right" Before snapping up her purse then dashing out the door. This left sabine once again alone with the now clean adrian who had not once stirred or even moved during the entire process being completely dead to the world.

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After leaving her mother with adrian the bluenette quickly made her way up the stairs to her room only to have the red spirit come out of her bag to float beside her. "Marinette are you sure this was a good Idea?" tikki said coming up beside to give her a look of concern. "What do you mean tikki?" the Parisian girl asked as she opened up the trapdoor allowing them both access to her room. As both spirit and girl tried tikki orbited the girls head before making her way about the room. "Well for starters your room isn't exactly clean. I mean l look at this place." outstretching her arms to emphasize her point.

It was true. while her room was far from a disaster it was however by no stretch of the imagination clean and it was easy to see why both her mother and tikki were reluctant. The floor was covered in boxes filled with rolls upon rolls of fabrics, upholstery, synthetics, stains and even veneer. Some of these items were not even in box some were simply lying on the floor where ever there was room. Her desk and even an extra cutting table was covered in pre cut swatches ready to be sewn and patterns strewn about. The walls aside from their usual decorations were covered different concept arts and designs for new cloths. Ultimately it showed clear signs of neglect and was in desperate need for a cleaning.

Marinette could not suppress a nervous chuckle as she realized how right tikki was as it was quite the sight. Clearly she had be neglecting a few things and had let her room go recently. " ha ha. ok maybe my room needs a little work." she said nervously with a smile rubbing her head. Tikki however did not look as amused " a little." she quipped placing her tiny hand upon her hips. "Ok more like a lot." marinette said in defeat as tikki for better or worse was right the room was in need. "But it's not my fault I just haven't been able to find time. With helping my parents and trying to raise money for my own place. While also trying to juggle working on fashion and helping my friends then there's ladybug and... 'sigh' I just haven't had time." she admitted.

Tikki flew to marinette side stopping a few inches in front of her face gaining her attention. "It's ok marinette I know you've been trying really hard recently. You're an adult now and you have outgrown your old home and you need room to stretch out and make it out on your own. I've seen it dozens of time before in the past trust me I know what you're going through. But even though you're struggling to find a way to adjust you still have responsibilities to yourself and your own life. You just need to find the right way and you can start by letting me help you with this mess."

Marinette was speechless hearing tikki's words, she always knew just what to say to make her feel better. Placing her hands on either side of tikki before bringing her close to rub her against her cheek. "Thanks tikki." she said gratefully inciting a high pitched chuckle from the ladybug spirit, "you're welcome." she responded happily. "No then." marinette said breaking the embrace "we better start cleaning mama will be done soon." managing to suppress her worry for the time being with the task at hand as she began cleaning up the room. "Don't forget to put your pictures somewhere marinette." Hearing made the girl puse in step arms full of rolls of fabric. Looking at tikki in wonder confused "why?" unsure as to why tikki would tell her to put her pictures away.

Tikki however just gave marinette a big smirk before speaking in a humorous voice "well I don't know marinette. I just thought that when adrian wakes up he might not want to see all the news paper clippings and magazine covers with his picture on them above your bed." she stated humorously. Faster than tikki ever thought possible marinettes face almost immediately turned a bright shade of red before releasing the most ridiculous combination of unlegibal. And within moments of this outbreak of embarrassment dashed for a small box on her desk then proceeded to stampede up the stairs to her bed. "Wait hold on you forgot to change out of your...bathing...suit." tikki tried to say but it was clear that marinette was not listening as she could be heard hastily trying to hide all of the pictures of her long time crush. "Never mind" the kwami shrugged seeing her partner forget she was still in her bathing suit that she wore while bathing adrian. Deciding that saying anything by this time was pointless tikki instead went over to the collapsible sewing table and began cleaning.

After hastily trying to organize the room staking the rolls, pilling the fabric and patterns in open boxes, cleaning off the desk and table while also folding the table before placing it into the corner, cleaning the floor in record time, and changing the blankets and sheets .last and for marinette most importantly all the pictures, scrap books, planners, clippings, magazines with adrian. Heck even a small collectible statue of all things from a sight called cult collections that looked like adrian into a box that was promptly put in the back of her closet. Ultimately the room was clean...well mostly.

"Finished!" the bluenette exclaimed as she observer her's and tikki's handy work. "And now all we need is adrian" the kwami responded who was beside the girl. Marinette just gave a simple nod in agreement "yeah by now mama is probably done checking adrian for injuries. I should probably go check." turning to walk out the trap. As she walked towards the trap when the sound of crumpled paper under foot came to her attention. Looking down she saw a waite card under foot to her surprise. Lifting up her foot before bending down and picking it up. "Hey what's that?" she could hear tikki ask but said nothing as she examined the card. In the one said which was facing up was a simple plain white card with a company watermark. Flipping the card over much to her surprise was the image of her entire class (save chole) the day that juleka got turned into reflekta.

Seeing this image brought back many old memories of when she was back in school with all her friends and classmates. The now old and slightly worn photo bright a small smile to the girl's face remembering all the times both good and bad during those years. Sparing a glance to her right she could see tikki silently looking at the picture possibly remembering all the memory's like she was. Thinking back on it she remembered all the adventure that she, tikki, ayla, cat noir, nino, and...adrian… all the adventures as ladybug. All the scares from hawk moth attacks and halloween. All her successes in saving the city as well as in fashion. All of her victorious battles against crime and akuma. All of cat's unbearable flirting which she honestly missed now as it became too quiet when he left. But most of all she remembered all the times she and her friends sent together. This soon however turned dark as her memories began to stream into dark areas as she remembered the finale battle with hawk moth. Then the defeat and the ensuing media tornado that caused adrian to go into hiding. then In the months that followed there hollow victory where she and cat patrolled the city for petty crime. Until one day that cat disappeared and she was alone on patrol.

A small tear slid down her face before falling to the picture below. Tikki took clear notice of this becoming concerned looking upon the face of her partner. "Marinette are you alright?" she asked concerned for the well being of her partner as the day's events had proven to be very trying on the girl. The bluenette however simply wiped the offending tears from her face concealing it while walking towards the trap door. "I'm fine" she said suddenly before opening the trap with tikki right behind. Marinette then stopped abruptly mid step almost casing the red spirit to crash into her. Tikki confused by this was about to ask why she stopped wh. "Hay tikki would you mind waiting here? And...making sure we cleaned everything… you know just in case." she asked trying to hide her emotions. Tikki said noting for several seconds before finally sighing loudly "sigh. Ok" she answered simply. In That moment she could hear the bluenette chuckle humorlessly before leaving through the trapdoor.

Speaking of traps haven't we forgot someone?

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Meanwhile

Over an hour ago outside on the streets of paris.

"Yes I did it!" a little black cat cheered as adrian was loaded into the van and the door shut. "I'm a genius my pain worked!" the little spirit cheered again as he plain while hasty succeeded. The vans engine then reved up a littler as it was being readied to leave. "Now all I have to do is stay close to adrian as possible so I can keep an eye on...VROOM" he said out loud once again but was cut off by the van taking off. WITH OUT HIM IN IT! "Wait adrians in there?" he said puzzled by the sight of the van leaving? "AAHHHHHHGG! ADRIAN!" he shouted taking off after the van as fast as he could which was not vary fast. As soon the van began to pull away from him. "NO. NO. NO. WAIT. WAIT WAIT. I SAID STOP!" but to no avail. The van with a couple of fast green lights soon disappeared from view leaving plagg alone in the rain with no idea where to go "COME BACK!... To be continued.

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All right the end of another chapter for all of you who stayed to the end and did not leave your seats till the end of the feature presentation I thank you. Now then I will admit this is starting to become a recurring theme I did have a bit more plain for this chapter. but just like last time it just did not fit the passing of the chapter and ultimately I scraped it to use later as I wanted to end on an impactful note. And short of making every chapter like 10k words long it just did not seem practical for you the reader. So I have lots of things planned already for the next chapter where adrian will finally get the rest he deserves and begin a peaceful recovery. We also will not see much of adrian for the next chapter or two as he is going to spend the next few chapters out cold or at best in a sick induced drunken slur. Now for those who want adrian awake and talking I'm sorry but I have to set up my other characters including adrian. As if I just have adrian wake up in the next chapter still sick, but able to function normally it would be no different then having a real bad cold. So to get the point across that he's in rough shape he's going to be pretty out of it for at least one maybe two chapters depending on how it goes in the next one.

And with all that said the next chapter will be hopefully out next month some time we will find out a lot of things. How sick is adrian? What are marinette feelings for adrian? What about some of her thoughts on the cat in black? How did marinette cope with adrian's and cats leaving? How with plagg find marinettes home? And will we ever find any more camembert? Not sure about that last one.

Who knows but find out next time same miraculous time. Same miraculous story.


	4. chapter II guilty heart A parents love

**Meow all its me again. paws it going? Hay for all you reading my story thanks for tuning in again I really appreciate it. For those of you who noticed Ive started to bold the A.N to help distinguish them from the story and let me know what you think in the reviews. Also I will be introducing a lot of new elements into my story at some point. Even though I had successful pilot episodes I still need to better astablish things before I start adding the spinning rims and the lights.**

 **I will also be introducing some new powers to the cannon of my own creation. No. Purr-ation to add some diversity to the roster. Also cat noir will also be able to use cataclysm more than one time as by this point in the timeline his ability's with magic have improved to the point where he can maintain the form of cat on his own. Once he recovers and gets back into the meow of things that is he will be able to use his powers longer. While ladybug will still only be able to use luck charm once. However she can use it multiple times but she can only have one at a time. Though both cat noir and ladybug may not use some of the power mentioned in the story at all and may only be mention in the exploits of previous cat and bugs.**

 **Some of the new powers that I will make up for my story include for cat noir jinxing people or objects with bad luck. Cat like permissions of the future specifically disasters. Interfering with magical powers or artifacts. Creating black lightning which will work similar to the cataclysme accepted at a distance and only damaged items it touches like a bullet as opposed to destroying the whole thing. He will also discover he has a degree of control of pests or bad luck animals like cat's, crows and ravens. And sickness like plag though he would never use this power. Or will he?**

 **For ladybug she can learn about dowsing using her yo-yo. She can also learn how to heal others though not too soon mind you. She will also have the ability to gift someone else good luck. Or make an object temporarily into a good luck charm, though not to the point where people are winning the latory mind you and the strength of the luck charm will be determined by how good of a person they are. She will also gain a minor control over animals of good fortune like title ladybugs, crane and chinese koi fish. And improving the power of magical artifacts. I'm still working on different abilities to give them more variety but those are the big ones. But I don't want to change the characters too much so I will try to fiddle with things a bit and I may even scrap some of these powers if they don't fit.**

 **Ok that was a bit to digest but I believe that's all of it though I will be sure to let you guys and lady bugs know more in further update if it important. But you readers did not log in, sign in, boot up or turn on just to hear me gab you came to read a story so without further adu….**

It was a rainy night in paris the city of love. The sun had set leaving the night dark and the people of paris with the sound of a late thunderstorm building in the distance. This left a many to seek shelter for the night in their homes to forget the weather. And while most people were coming home to end their evening with dinner or homework. One household in particular was not so luck as one blue haired youth was left watching the pale sickly boy.

Sitting on the edge of her bed marinette watched adrian as he slept. While normally this would be taken in poor taste given the circumstances even the most strict of people would overlook this situation. As adrian deeply sick taking sharp shallow breaths, his skin already prickled with sweat again. His face a disturbing shade of red on his pale complexion making him look like a reject from a bad b grade horror movie. To complete he had a number of bandages on his arms and a few on his face. on his arms To try and keeps his fever in check and give the ailing boy some level of comfort in his ill fated stat.

This in itself was not the worst of it as every now and then he would start the most outrageous coughing fits. It got so bad sometimes that he had trouble breathing and marinette often feared that he would stop breathing all together. Thankfully however these fears were misplaced but they still persisted. Even still she still had to monitor him for he would get violent shaking fits at times. And even once when she thought he was going to wake up but was dismayed to find that he was merely talking. No begging in his sleep for his mother.

Marinette for all her efforts was simply forced to watch unable to do anything but watch and change the cloth on his forehead. Her waiting was not helped by the dark atmosphere. It was almost six o'clock and in november in paris left the room dark. Marinette only source of light being her desk lamp. This gave near dark conditions with only ambient light coming from the desk below and tikki. The reason for the near dark conditions was to give comfort to adrian so that he could sleep easier without artificial light.

Her mother sabin was currently down stairs preparing dinner while her father was closing the store down stairs. So while her mother was cooking she was asked to watch adrian though at least she had her partner tikki with her to help pass the time. Speaking of the little kwami she was currently hovering over adrian's face keeping an eye on him while he slept giving both herself and marinette light with her illuminated body. And while she had nothing to prove this she honestly would swear that adrian under tikki's light look better. As if the power of luck was making helping to make him better.

Regardless of her belief of tikki's powers of good luck helping adrian the fact was that he was still severely ill. And chances were that he would remain that way for quite some time. As even once his fever broke and his illness cured. He was still extremely malnourished and if what her mama said was true any longer out alone on his own and they may have had a body instead. Going from there and what had marinette worried the most was the fact that her mama suspected that he had pneumonia. While she did not know the full details of the illness she knew that pneumonia was a very serious illness when left untreated can cause all sorts of problems. After hearing this she also did some research and found while nowadays not generally fatal if treated. It however can keeps someone down for weeks, and sometimes even months depending on how sever it was. To say that she was worried was an understatement as she quit frankly wanted to pass out when her mama told her this.

As she her mind wandered she noticed that adrian's cloth became dry again. so repeating a motion she had done nearly a dozen times in the past hour. Taking the dry cloth off his head before dipping into a bowl that was off to the side before ringing it out and placing it back on his head. Almost immediately upon the now damp cloth hitting his skin adrian let out a loud gasp startling both tikki and marinette then several seconds latter breathed a pleasant sight. Clearly the cloth was if nothing else giving the poor boy a level of comfort he otherwise did not have.

"I still can't believe it" marinette said breathlessly drawing that attention of tikki the living light bulb. "What do you mean marinette, what don't you believe?" the kwami asked wondering what her partner was saying. Marinette however did nothing at first simply stayed at the pale sleeping face of the blond. However after taking a deep breath continued "he was so close...he was so close. Close enough that I could have walked to him in twenty minutes. And if it wasn't for the fact that I had to run some errands on the other side of the city…'' I never would have found him. And all because i thought he was fine on his own." marinette confessed her body trembling as she spoke. It was clear to tikki that this had been eating at her for some time while she was only now able to let some of it out as she had noth to do but watch.

Tikki p.o.v

Tikki just simply watched her partner for a moment as marinette just continued to stare at adrian's face as he breathed heavily mouth open as sweat dripped down his face. The poor girl forced to watch her one time love suffer ceaselessly under the effects of his illness. They had given him some medicine earlier and while tikki herself knew that there was little they could do at this point accepted wait. That did not mean that it was any less hard to watch her partnern. And though it was not marinettes fault as she couldn't have known adrian was going to run the way he did. But even she couldn't deny that she was also partly right as well. Adrian was only a couple blocks from marinette house. About half an hourse walk depending on traffic or a few swings as ladybug. And in the end marinette nor ladybug did anything to help him.

Even though the spirit floating over the head of her partner and crush understood her pain she had no reason to blame herself. There was no way of knowing how poor off adrian was and even if they did how could she have found him. True tikki could have taught her how to what amounted to dowsing to help locate him. With her dowsing power she can locate any person place or thing that lost or you need to find. But marinette always said that they should never abuse their powers for personal gain even to help a friend. Though granted that was a rule that tikki told her after the bubble incident she followed it to the letter.

Besides even if she did know how to dows they would still need something that belonged to the person recently. And by the time she would have learned how to use it the dowsing technique wouldn't work. Now you might ask well if that's the case why didn't you use it during the akuma attacks or to find hawk moth. Well akuma even under extreme conditions are never hard to find. And even if they tried to use it to find hawk moth they would still need something of his to find him. Unlike objects or locations to find a living thing you need something like a lock of hair or bracelet to find them. And one may say what about the akuma you could use those to find him. Well unfortunately not as you can't use a living thing to find another living thing and as akuma are just white ordinary french mimicry _papillon or butterflies. Meaning they couldn't be used to find hawkmoth anyway. And even if she did teach her how to fully use all her powers when they first met marinette had never used magic before in her life and her abilities were too weak. Infact if not for her being in such close proximity to marinette all the time her abilities would still be to weak. As with her busy school schedule marinette just did not have to to do magic exercises. Though she would keep that to herself. And after hawk moth was defeated there just didn't seem to be a point._

 _In The end marinette was simply punishing herself needlessly as there was nothing she could have done. Every time she had gone out as ladybug for months she always kept her eye out for adrian. But even she was forced to give up eventually as even ladybug could not search all of paris on her own and even if she could how could she expect to find someone who did not want to be found?_

No p.o.v

"Marinette. I- Knock. Knock. knock." tikki started but was cut off as a knock at the door came to both her and marionettes attention making both of them look at the trap. "Marinette. Its me are you alright?" they could hear marinette's mother ask from below the trap. "Tikki quick hide!" marinette said in surprise and almost immediately the little spirit hide underneath the bed. Once she was sure that tikki was well hidden she leaned over the side of the bed "come in." she said to her mother.

A moment later the trap was opened to reveal her mother "marinette dinner's ready." she said as she entered the room. "Thanks mama." the bluenette responded breathlessly after the close call. However the girl did nothing to move from her spot at adrian's side instead chose to return her gaze to the blonde's restless face. "Marinette?" she could her her mother asked with a hint of concern but right she cared little. While she could not see it from her spot she could hear a sad sigh come from her mother. Then a moment later could feel the weight of her mother as she stepped on the stairs that lead to her bed. Finally she could feel the presence of her mother sitting next to her but even then she did not look her full attention being on the blond.

The pair sat in silence for a minute nether saying or doing anything merely sitting in front of the restless boy. After a few moments of this sabin placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder pulling her closer so that her head was on her mother's shoulder. "You know marinette." she started but again if marinette was listening she was pretending not. "Marinette we have cleaning him and his wounds, given him clean clothes, put him to bed and given him medication." she paused briefly after listing off all the things they did earlier. "But you can't continue like this. We have done all we can and now all that we can do is wait." it was clear what she was trying to do. She was trying to get the bluenette to come out of her room and stop blaming herself. "So please come down and eat with us."

Marinette however appeared unmoved seemingly ignoring her mother's requests she just sat there with her head on sabins shoulder a sad frown on her face. Sabine then much to marinettes surprise placed her head on the girls then began rubbing her back. This seemed to bring the stiff girl some comfort as she began to loosen up a bit. And then began to easy into her mother's side more who promptly wrapped her in a hug. Marinette quickly returned the embrace before taking a deep and heavy breath making her sound completely exhausted. The day had clearly taken a lot out of her as the stress and anxiety from finding and treating adrian had clearly been a lot to handle. As right now she needed some time to relax or she would make herself sick.

"Come now marinette let him sleep in peace and get something to eat. When were done and he's had some time to rest we can bring something up for him. He's probably half starved after what he's been through and could use a nice hot meal." it took a minute but marinette took a deep breath. She then looked up to her mother her sad face vary visible before giving a simple nod. Her mother not waiting any longer begin to lead marinette away from adrian's temporary bed so they could have a family meal together. However before they went through the trap she managed to look back up and lock eyes with tikki. Then giving her a slight nod before tikki nodded back in response to watch adian as the trap closed behind the familial pair.

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Marinette P.O.V

While it was hard at first sitting at the table with her parents while adrian was in her room. But eventually she was able to settle down and eat her meal while pare the occasional glance towards her room. The food was good while not very memorable as her mind was still on the blond. Though the occasional small talk from her parents about this and that did help some even if it was ignoring the obvious. However that things were not all good as she knew that all three of them were avoiding an elephant in the room. One that none of them wanted to bring up.

Just thinking about it gave the poor girls butterflies or knots in her stomach. She had lost her love of butterflies thanks to hawk moth. However her nerves where on end as she worried about what would happen to adrian. While true he was going to be staying with them for the time being. But then what? Her mind wondering for answers.

"He couldn't stay with us forever can he. Besides that's what would my parents do, while I know they like adrian I doubt highly that they would let him stay too long. And if that was true what happened when he got better. If he...did leave where would he go back onto the streets of paris? Even if they did ask him to leave that would basically be a death sentence as almost everyone in paris hated him for what his father did. There would be no place for him to go if they threw him out of the street to fend for himself. But at the same time even if ma ma and pa pa do let him stay what would they do once he's feeling better they couldn't let him stay in her room. At least for now he could as he needed it more than I do. But that what? Speaking of which is it even legal to have him stay in there house?

She knew his birthday was in **august** (yes I know I'm making that up but if anyone knows the real day please let me know.) "ok and given his age last she seen him that would make him?... It would mean that he just turned 20 a little over two months ago. Wait?" she thought a moment pausing in thought. "If he just turned 20 and my birthday is in may. That means I'm older then he is by almost a year." She thought now realizing this as she had never given it much thought before now. That aside though that meant he was above the legal age of an adult in france which meant he did not need a guardian. But that still left a question of what were they going to do with him once he was well. While there was no law saying he could not stay here there was still the matter of her parents.

Looking up from her plate marinette could see the faces of her parents and while they were trying discussing pleasant matters. She could tell they where they both had something else on there mind as there eyes held a somewhat vacant look. Her ma ma while her usual pleasant self was less talkative than usual being oddly quiet between exchanges. Normally she would ask her and pa pa about how their days went or talk about happy upcoming plains or events. Pa pa on the other hand was not his usual boisterous self as for the most part he was rather tame not a usual quality for him. Tom was usually the loudest and most jolly of the three going out of his way to insure that others enjoyed himself. But now all three of them had one thing on there mind and it was not there meal. It was adrian though it was hard not to as just a few hours ago she found adrian half starved and extremely ill only to bring him home, give him a bath, and put him to bed. So i made scenes that they were all in the back of there minds asking the same question. what were they going to do with him?

A loud sigh from her ma ma got her attention making her look up at the agging women. "I think it's time we stop ignoring this and discuss what to do about the boy." she said solemnly as she clearly was not looking forward to talking about it. This however made marinette worry greatly as she did not want anything happening to adrian. Looking at her papa she could see the look on his face held that same look of unwillingness as the topic they were about to discuss was not one to be taken lightly. The dinner table quickly turned into a meeting table as they got ready to discuss their new guest.

"I guess we have been avoiding it long enough." tom started to say. Hearing this made marinette worry 'they weren't going to throw him out where they?' she panicked internally. "Yes we have been avoiding this haven't we marinette." her ma ma said looking at her a fixed gaze making the girl giggle nervously. Sabine however was less amused as she continued "I think it's about time you tell us what happened. When we talked over the phone you were in such a rush that you only explained that you found him and that you needed help." Tom nodded in agreement at this "yes. As much as we both think of him it would tell us what is going on." he added to his wife's words.

They were being stern marinette could tell this normally how they talked when she was getting a lecture when she was younger. They were not mad though oddly enough really they honestly sounded more concerned if anything. It made her wonder why the would be so concerned but then her mind and her gaze drifted up to the ceiling where adrian slept in her bed. So it made scenes why they were so concerned they were being parents and they were concerned for the boy. And they wanted to understand what was happening and why he was in there house in his state.

Letting out a groan knowing she was not going to get out of it and even if she did she would have to explain later. So deciding it best to get it over with simply asked "where do you want me to start?". Tom and sabine simple looked at her a moment before saying "(sabin) the beginning" "(tom) the beginning." in tandem surprising both of them at the jinx moment. If not for the seriousness of the situation marinette would have found this rather funny but right now was not one of those times. So taking a deep breath to calm her nerves as she got ready to tell her story. "It started after was finished shopping and on my way home from the specialty store…."

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And so over the course of the next half hour or so marinette explained her story taking brakes no and then to settle herself or answer question. Her mother also filled them in tom mostly on what she had seen of the boy's body and injuries But the story began to greatly affect her as was the whole situation the day having taken its toll on the bluenette. The others however were simply processing what marinette had told them while adding that to what they had already seen.

"I can't believe what happened to him last time I remember seeing him he was a great athlete." tom stated to know one in particular. He remember the last time he had seen him in person it was when he picked up his daughter after a basketball game that he had played in for a charity event. And from what he saw back then aside from the dirt of playing a professional sport of sorts given it was for none profit. He was great physical condition...Almost freakishly good condition now that he thought of it.

Her mother on the other hand had a greater grasp of the situation but hearing that he was just laying in an alley alone was heartbreaking. But there was more and sabine was not too eager to share it. "Unfortunately I have something you both need to hear" she said causing both tom and marinette to give her quizzical look. "Marinette you didn't see this as you were busy getting a change of cloths for adrian…but when I tried to get his shirt off it completely fell apart in my hands." marinette mouth hung on a slack hinge upon hearing this letting out an audible gasp. Tom however was much more put together then her daughter but even his eyes went wide as the cakes he baked.

However her mother was not quite finished however "unfortunately his pants where in just as bad of shape as I ripped several seam just getting them off him. And his sweater was also badly damaged having patches of it cover in mold and mildew. In the end I had to throw all of it away as they were beyond repair and laundry." the woman said to her stunned audience.

Marinette wanted to and felt like vomiting right now. The idea of someone. Anyone wear cloths that were falling apart and covered in mold and rot literally made her feel sick. This pretty much settle it for the bluenette she had to do something anything to let him stay. She did not know how but he needed somewhere to live they could not just send back to the streets. Ever scenes he left she had not heard a thing from him she look but never found him. And when she does find him she finds a boy who had been mentally abused by his father only noticing him when he misbehaves. Abused by the vary people who live in the city people who she protected on a daily basis for a time when hawk- no gabrial agrest was on the loose. While she was living the good life in her parents bakery. All the while he was sleeping in an alley in moldy clothes. 'In fact how I she not even notice the mold in the first place!' she screamed in her head. These thoughts however were interrupted by her pa pa "marinette are you alright."

This got her attention as she noticed the concerned faces of both her parents who were staring at her like she was bleeding. And that's when she noticed the sound of something rattling on the table. Looking down she noticed it was her hand that was shaking violently on the wooden surface. Raising her hand in front of her face to see the shaking only grow worse. Bringing up her other hand to try and control the shaking only to notice both of her hand had suddenly started shaking violently. "Hunny are you feeling well you look pale." marinette heard her ma ma say but said nothing as she noticed her skin was indeed beginning to look very pale. And no sooner did she notice this did she feel her stomach turn unpleasantly.

"Excuse me" she said as she pushed away from the table and dashed for the bathroom leaving her stunned parents behind still in there seats. Pushing the door of the bathroom open marinette stumbled in and walked over to the toilet lifting the lid just in time before. A horrible sound filled the bathroom as marinette vomited into the toilet. She did this several times a few seconds in between each. And during each short reprieve she only asked one question "why. Why did all if this have to happen. Why did the world have to be so terrible." after giving her last heave and feeling the weight of the day finally bringing her down she sunk to her knees before laying down on her back on the cold tiled floor. Looking up at the with half shut eyelids she could see the worried faces of her parents looking down at her. Growing in both defeat and embarrassment before saying "this day just won't end."

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After getting checked over by her ma ma to make sure she did not catch what adrian had she was lead to the couch by her pa pa. Luckily for her, her ma ma deemed her fine and that she was just suffering a stress attack and was nothing serious...well serious for a hyperactive twenty year old who saved the city every other week. While her pa pa sat with her keeping an eye on her her mother was in the kitchen getting something for adrian to eat. Thankfully her parents decided after her dramatic display that adrian could stay as long as needed as he had already suffer enough witch her the brunette's mind at ease. Though she would have liked this decision to come without her vomiting which she could still taste. But it was a small price to pay.

As she rested her head sinking into the material she reminded herself that she needed to get back to adrian soon. Think about the blond made her her wonder how he was doing and if tikki was able to take care of him. At that moment her nose pricked and judging by the smell it was soup...and herbal tea. 'Ma ma's favorite' she thought silently trying not to laugh. She must have been desperate for reprieve to find humor in something so mundane.

That was when she felt weight on her right turning to see her mother with a cup of tea in her hand. "Hear drink this it will make you feel better." ma ma said holding the cup out for her to take. Marinette just looked at the cup unsure before turning her gaze towards the trap where adrian rested. Giving her mother a pleading look "what about adrian? She asked leaving bare her obvious feelings for the boy. Her ma ma then placed a gentle hand on her shoulder "don't worry. Adrians food is heating up and will be read soon. But for now drink this it will make you feel better." I was clear she was trying to help. And she was right while she had recovered mostly her stomach was still upset with her. So accepting the cup with a smile and a thank you she began to have her mother's tea. Almost immediately she could feel a difference the soothing taste was enough to take the foulness of the bile away. After a few more sips she could feel her muscles starting to relax something they hadn't done much of scene finding adrian.

However soon she began to yawn and she began to feel heave where she sat. she could feel her parents leave her side which made her groan as they were warm. "Want me to take that from you." she heard her mother say but did not remember saying a response as the cup was taken from her. The bluenette was vaguely aware of the words "Want lay down" and she did. Feeling her eyes grown heave she ether by herself or with help laid down on a pillow on the arm rest. 'This feels nice. Maybe a few minutes will help out.' then a warm cover came over her a wrapped her up in a nice soft layer. She was only vaguely aware of her surroundings at this point as her eyes began to close her last thoughts where 'just a few minutes before I get back to ad.r.i...an,' before blacking out and falling asleep.

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Sabin and tom stood above the couch where there now adult daughter slept quietly breathing softly. Both had small smile on their faces remembering day's long past when the blue haired girl would tire herself out and fall asleep on the floor or anywhere else. She was a grown women now they both knew that and someday soon there time with her as a family of three would be coming to an end. That was something they also knew but for now they were going to enjoy their family of three for as long as they could.

Tom looked sadly at his wife putting a tender arm around her "she is all grown up isn't she." he said absently. Sabine nodded not lifting her gaze from the girl. No the women she was an adult now. "Yes she is. She is grown and ready to take the world on her own now. There's nothing more we can teach her. All we can do is support her now." the aging mother said sorrowfully remembering when her daughter was was just a little girl running around the house. Driving them both mad she thought humorously. "Yes." tom responded back "she not are littler girl any more." he said giving sabine a light squeeze.

Giving a loud sigh tom he looked back to the girl guilt starting to form in his heart. "Are you sure it was alright doing that? You know." he said motioning with his hand towards the girl in front of him to give his point. "Yes I'm sure." she answered though her voice did show signs of betrayal. "Its an old family recipe works every time." chuckling slightly remembering how she used it whenever marinette was sick to help her sleep. Tom however was less amused and gave his wife a look the confirmed it. "You know what I meant. I'm asking if it was alright to do that to her? We both know how much those to cared for each other. We both seen it whenever they spent time together." now his turn to remember all the times adrian would come to there house to play games, do homework, hang out. Infacted only a few weeks before the event with his father tom would have bet his bakery that marinette was working up the courage to ask him out.

"Yes I sure." she said regaining the large man's attention "I know how much she cares for him. It was the same with you when we first met. You would always try to lavish me with gifts but you always panicked before you could ask me out. And when you found out I was leaving to go back to china you worked up the courage to ask me out." sabine said now looking up at her husband lovingly letting out a small laugh when she seen the blush forming and it was clear where marinette got it from. "And I never regretted it" she stated continuing her story. After I left you made sure to stay in contact and I would eagerly await your next letter. fetching the mail daily in hopes to see the next letter. I learned how to speak french and planned my next visit for five years…" she said pausing to take a breath and noticed that tom had not stopped staring hanging on her every word. However deciding to put the poor man out of his misery she finished her story "And during that visit I never left. And I never regretted staying. My Bàba hé māmā (AN chinese word for mother and father) were both furious with me but I never regretted it. My Nǎinai (AN chinese word for grandmother) encouraged me to follow my heart. And that is what I did." she said finishing her story.

Tom was vary moved to say the least. Though he had heard this story many times before it always moved him every time. Though as moving as the story was he failed to see the point with marinette and adrian. Sabine however could see this and elaborated "the point dear is that marinette care deeply for the boy. But if she fawns over adrian and doesn't care for her own health she will only end up hurting everyone…" Looking back down to their daughter taking her husband's hand "she maybe be a grown women now. But that doesn't mean we can't still nurture and care for her. Let her sleep she could use the rest. And after everything are girl has done she deserves it." at this they shared a loving moment looking over the girl they raised and who she had become.

"Now then." sabine said suddenly surprising tom somewhat not expecting it. The blunett mother the broke from her husbands arms and made for the kitchen "adrian's probible hungry and in his state he will not feed himself." she said entering the kitchen leaving tom who was just flabbergasted at what to do as he looked between marinette and sabine several times clearly enjoying the moment they shared a little too much. The bluenette came out of the kitchen a moment later with a steaming bowl of soup. Looking over to the confused man she just smiled "I was going to do this with marinette. But I could still use the help to get him to sit up. So if you waiting for an invitation." she said humorously. And no sooner had she said this did tom lead the way for her opening the trap being the gentleman he was to allow her to enter. Leaving the bluenette to sleep and to forget her worry's of the day for one more night at least while the rain continued to pour while everyone was inside. Well almost everyone.

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Some time later in the streets of paris.

"Don 'huff' don-n't wor 'huff ry adrian I'm co-mm-ing h-h-hang on t-t-il-ll I get there 'huff'. The little black kwami was exasperated as it forced itself along breathlessly through the rain with a leaf over its head to guard against rain. Having completely tired himself after forcing his way through the rain to find adrian after he lost them. Only to realize he couldn't remember where the bakery was basically floating around in circles trying to find it. Without much luck though as he had been wondering aimlessly for hours. Now normally this wouldn't be so bad as all adrian had to do was say claws out a poof he would be pulled in the direction of the ring. But given how adrian was probably still out cold that would be a tad difficult.

Stopping in his tracks to catch his breath as he looked around the street he was on he saw no sign of the tell tale building that belonged to marinettes family. I mean come on it shouldn't be that hard to find a stupid bakery could it. Groaning loudly in frustration "AHHHG! I can't believe this!" he shouted uncaring.

"Can't believe what?" I voice came from behind him. "Ahhhhh!" plag screamed in fright as he hid inside of a nearby tree while the voice merely laughed amused by his actions. "Come on out now plagg I will not harm you." the unknown man said merrily. "What I know that voice." plagg said before tentatively looked out from the trees leaves of the tree. And what he saw was an aging hawaiian rain coat wearing chinese man holding a hawaiian shirt themed umbrella "master FU!. Indeed it was master fu the old wise master of the miraculous and bearer of the tortoise shell bracelet.

"Ah so you do remember me plagg. I was beginning to think you forgot." the old man said jokingly. Growling in annoyance at the old master "master this is no time for jokes. I have more important things to do then sitting here chatting with you!" he said irritably floating down towards the old master. However the elders man's smile never faded which was starting to creep plagg out if he was being honest. "Hmmm? More important things to consider." he said absently closing his eyes before opening them and saying "like finding marinette's house for example?" hearing this cased plagg to immediately freeze up. "Wh-wh-what makes you think I'm lost? How do you know I don't know where I'm going?" he asked getting defensive about his actions. Master fu however had the audacity to smirk at him seemingly finding the whole situation funny. "What about you wandering aimlessly around the streets of paris for starters. Or you sleeping whenever adrian went over to his friend marinettes house as an example." he said plainly though you could tell he was enjoying it. Hearing this was like a nail being shoved in plaggs ears and he did not like it and as much as he hated to admit it maser fu was right.

"What do you want?" the cat spirit asked gritting his teeth irritably not liking the situation he found himself in. "me I just came to see what you were up to. I can check up on my friend now and then can't I?..." he asked politely. "Also." he said before plagg could answer "I scanned some karma in the area. You wouldn't know about that by chance would you?" he asked with a sly smile making plagg sweat imaginary… well sweat.

"I thought as much." master fu commented upon seeing plagg's fearful reaction. The old master let out a heavy sigh closing his eyes for a moment as if in thought before looking at the little cat spirit. "Plagg...You know what I've said about you using your powers. Unlike tikki's you could inadvertently case a disaster". "Look it wasn't my fault!." plag bursted out gaining a surprised look from the old man. Plagg seemed to regret this somewhat but continued on regardless "ok look I did use my jinx ability. BUT I needed to because adrian was sick and he needed help and it was the only way to get the blue bell to notice him. Unless you wanted me to blow both his and my cover..HUFF HUFF" the little spirit was then left gasping for breath as he finished having spoken so much in such a short amount of time.

Fu was silent for a time making plagg wonder if he was in trouble or if so how much however after a cold rainy minute or so. "I know." the master said with a smile on his face. Plagg for all his good and bad points just dead panned. "Wait? You know? Know what?" plagg was beyond confused right now and honestly was not sure what was going on. Master however just smiled "I know that you only used your powers to help adrian." he said simply as one would state a name. …."

YOU KNEW!" plagg shouted both shocked and angry at master fu for trailing him on. Laughing at the poor spirits expenses the cheerful master just could not help himself. "Of course I knew plagg you where using your powers responsibly. I just wanted to make sure you knew.". Hearing this just made plaggs mouth hang in disbelief at the old man who he honestly wondered was going senile. "So. you're not here to punish me?" the kwami asked curious as to what the man was about this time. Masters smile only widened at this and it showed when he spoke "of course not. Why would I punish you for using your powers responsibly for the benefit of others. 'I can't believe this.' the black cat thought silently. "So if you're not here to punish me. WHY ARE YOU HERE!" the cat shouted for the final time at wits end with the bearer of the tortoise kwami. Chucking clearly not phased by the black spirit answered good heartedly "why to take you home of course." surprising plagg greatly.

"Take me home? What you losing it I have to get to adrian." he responded hastily worry ridden in his voice which was not lost to the old master. But the man said nothing merely waving plagg off "come now it's raining out. And my house is closer." he said seemingly unconcerned. Plagg however was not so easily swayed though "I come on? N you come on. He's my partner and it's my job." he stated fire in his eyes and determination in his voice. While the old man would never say anything he was proud of how much plagg had matured over the course of the few short years he was with adrian. Normally he could care less if his partner got killed. But he genuinely cared for the boy. But right now he had more important things to do and collecting plagg for a few days was one of them. "Come on now plagg he will be fine for a few days without you. it's all right your partner is in good hands. After all that is why you chose marinette is it not? Besides I can't have you going into a friends house and rummaging through the frigg at this hour. Now can I" he finished with the last big statement knowing the kwami had no good counter argument for it. An imaginary sweat bead rolled down plagg wet and matted fur because of the last comment about food. His leaf umbrella long gone which caused him to be cold, wet and irritable. "Ahhh! Fine have it your way." he started flouting under master fu's umbrella. "But if something happens to adrian while I'm gone I'm going to put a curse on you." he said in a threatening tone. Fu however shrugged the thought off with a laugh finding both the statement and plays appearance to amusing to be scary.

Turning to face the way he came motioning with his umbrella "come now. Let's go home you must be hungry." he said more as a statement then as a question. "Am I ever." the cat stated gluttonously "I haven't eaten anything decent in ages. I mean…." While normally fu would always listen to others attentively (even plagg) his mind was on other matters. He knew that sooner or later plagg and tikki would figure the identities of their partners sooner or later. But he also knew that having plagg show up now. At nearly ten to midnight no less would lead to more questions then answers. And in adrians crippled and downed state it would just turn into a mess that would more than either of the chosen beares could take. For things to go well between adrian and marinette as well as their alter ego's they needed to take things slow and figure things out in time on there own. Besides where's the fun in someone telling you the secrets when you can solve them yourself. Either way he knew one the for certain and that was that the next few months in paris would definitely in interesting and worth waiting for to see what happens.

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 **Ok guys the next installment of this miraculous tell come to an end. Dun Dun Dun! And yay plagg finally get out of the rain and his little end of chapter mini series come to an end. But don't worry is not the last we see of him on the contrary he will be showing up soon enough. And for you out there who want to see plagg back with adrian the reunion will happen. But as fu said it would case for too many questions if plagg where just to show up unannounced out of the blue. Also there was going to originally going to be an alt ending but after a while the one I made made more scenes with the story's pacing.**

 **Also for those of you who are wondering about the tom and sabine part in the chapter. At first I wan't going to do it. But after a while I did it and hear why. Even though this story is focused primarily on adrian and marinette (Not ladybug and cat noir) having the focus be almost entirely on those to and putting little to no attention to other characters or their development would make the other lesser characters would make them feel soulless and empty. And so it made sense to put it in the way I did because it shows that they care for marinette to the point where they would do almost anything to supporter. Even if it mean going against her for her own good. Finally I will say this now the story will pick up a heck of a lot more at some point. I still working out when but you will know it when you see it when things will start to move. Trust me when I say this I have a show in store for you when the starting pistol goes off.**

 **And that's a rap thanks again for reading up to this point it's been fun to make this for you as if encouraged me to work faster one the chapters. Leave a fav and a follow if you like. Or don't and don't forget to review the more reviews I get the better I feel the story is becoming.**

 **Till next time cat ya later :3.**


	5. Chapter three alya got to be kidding

**Meow-llow my viewers It is eye the author ready to deliver my next chapter of my dreadfully scheme to take over your computers and lives " HA HA HA HA HAAA. GASP...COUGH COUGH COUGH!" OK enough of that greetings fanfic fan and thanks for coming back. Thankfully I don't have many major announcements to add so I will keep this short. No major updates or changes minus the obvious new chapter on the docket. I do have a lot of the end game figured out it's just going to take a while to get there. Ladybug will appear and so will cat noir in case any of you wear concerned. There are plans for some action fueled chapters at some point...when will take a while for you to find out though I won't spoil it. But there is an underlying story that will occur but that's all I will say at the moment. Also I have fixed I minor text error in the last chapter title, I forgot to add chapter two before the chapter title Finally Adrian will come around in ether the chapter after next or one maybe two more after in case you were all getting impatient Adrian's part will come soon enough. BUT I need to build up some of the ground works first before I can just do it.**

 **And that's all I hope you enjoy and you know the ritual fav-follow have fun.**

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 **chapter three alya got to be kidding.**

It was quite that was the first thing she became aware of as she began to awaken. Eyes closed leaving marinettes world around her dark as her mind slowly started to be drawn from sleep. Numb was how she felt unable to feel anything but heaviness as her arm began to move sluggishly to her face. Unaware of why her body moved she felt her hand touch her face. And though unable to comprehend why she could feel the numbness of her skin as her hand and face felt big and swollen. So unsure of what was happening and still too far gone with sleep to understand what was happening simply laid unmoving.

However as she began to make and become more aware of her surroundings she started taking notice of a pounding headache that was plaguing her. Letting out a small whine of discomfort she was finally able to crack her eyes open. At first as the light poured into her eyes causing her to close them again clamping them shut from the headache she had. After laying for a few minute more before opening her eyes again much more slowly this time giving her eyes a chance to adjust to the light. Soon the light began to dim she saw how dimly lit the room actually was.

It was early morning she could tell, the sky was gray with clouds as rain continued to pour from the night before. However one resident was currently unaware of this as she slept from her spiked tea to help her sleep off the previous night's events. And while marinette slept the morning away she imagined her mother and father were down stairs working the bakery together as they always had. And while on days like this they had little business they were always well prepared for an order no matter the size. Upstairs on the other hand under the constant care and supervision of tikki was adrian agrest.

"...adrian?" she said sitting up quickly. Too quickly as the events of the previous day began to return to her in full force. "Thats right" she said out loud staring into space "I finally found adrian." saying it almost bitterly. While even though she was thankful she was still bitter at why she found him…

Putting a still numb hand to her face rubbing the sleep from her eyes groaning loudly from the pain and soreness from the numbness. "Ma ma's recipe did this." she knew better than most how potent her ma ma's sleeping tea was have had it now and then since she was a little girl. The only problem was it often left her feeling numb when she woke up. Though thankfully she could already feel the effects of the numbness wearing off. However before she could enjoy being able to move unencumbered she was raked with intense headaches. Thankfully it passed as quickly as it came and soon her eyes fell upon the sink. She was dehydrated she could tell as this always happened when she didn't have enough water. Remembering her unpleasant experience in the bathroom the night before it was no wonder.

Preparing to remove the warm blanket covering her when she noticed a pitcher as well as a glass on the livingroom table. Alongside the pitcher was a note which got her attention and while she did not feel like reading right now she reached a tired arm over. Picking up the sticky note bring it to her face it read as follows "sorry marinette.". Seeing this note it was clear what it meant for. It was an apology for using the sleep aid on her. While she was irritated, she was also far to dehydrated to care right now. So taking the glass beside her as an invitation began to quench her thirst thankful she did not have to move right away.

After downing about a third the pitcher she began to feel her headache wain for which she was thankful for. As the pain in her temple began to subside her mind began to wonder to other things. Like what was going to happen to adrian once he was better? It he got better. What would she do? She always wanted to open up a fashion shop but she could never bring herself to leave with adrian hear. Would she ask him to come with her? Though doubting she could support two people with her fashion skills till she got her name out. And even then she wasn't sure. In fact even if adrian recovered medically there is no telling what he will be like when he came around. The kind sweet boy from before may be only a memory now because of his ill treatment. For that matter she thought drearily frowning clutching the blanket in front of her. Would he even be able to feel kindness or would he be only bitter and mistrusting of everything.

Her mood now low unsure of what to do when when she noticed a pink case with gray lining that held her phone. She used to have one with a gray back and pink lining but when she got a new phone she got a new case to go with it. Though the only difference was a palette swap. Reaching a tired hand towards her phone picking it up in a semi loose grip. Holding it in front of her she lit up the display and had to hold in a small gasp upon seeing the time. It was past nine thirty almost most ten having slept way past her normal time as she would normally be working on something fashion related or helping in the bakery right now.

RING! RING! RING!

"AAHHH!" marinette yelled as her phone suddenly started ringing startling the poor girl casing her to fall from the couch with a load thud.

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Down stairs in the bakery.

"Thank you" sabine said as she had finished a sale having handed the pastries to an elderly woman with her grand children. "Would you like….THUD!" but was cut off from the noise coming from above casing both woman and the two children to look up because of the sound. "What was that." the older of the said however the bluenette mother was unsure of how to answer. At that moment tom came out fromt he back wiping his hands on a plain cloth. "Sound like marinette's feeling better." he said humorously only to receive a sour look from sabine. "What?"

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Upstairs.

Marinette groaned loudly from the return of her headache putting an arm an the couch to help prop herself up in a sitting position. The phone stilling ringing loudly and vibrating madly as she held it as she struggled to reorient herself. After righting herself she then blew her now untied hair from her face having come loose in the spill. Bringing the phone to her face to check caller id only to groan even louder at who it was. Ayla.

Normally she would love to talk to her one time bff but today was not a good day and ayla with her loud and hyper talking would only make things worse. Plus being an only child often allowed cased her to see ayla as a surrogate sister and loved her just as much. But with everything going on she just was neither in the mood nore in the right state of mind to deal with her. However as phone continued to ring on alerting her of ayla need to speak with her. And just when she thought it would stop it would just start ringing again as ayla just redialing.. Finally after having to deal with the phone for several minutes and several redials later she answered the phone reluctantly.

"HAY GIRL WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" ayla said extremely loud over the phone casing marinette to almost immediately regret it. "Do you have any idea how long i've been trying to get ahold of you?" she said somewhat irritably.". "No I don't." she responded rubbing her temple nursing her head "Why what's going on?" she asked absently. Only to hear a light snort coming from the other end of the line. "Why? I should be asking you why like why you did not show to help me film the groundbreaking last night.". Marinette simply sat there now somewhat chilled from the cool air "the ground bra...OH no. I-ayla Im so sorry. Something happened yesterday after I went to run some errands for ma ma and I-I-I…" marinettes words quickly devolved into utter rambling before finally stopping feeling guilty for forgetting. Last night was the groundbreaking of a new memorial children's hospital and she promised ayla she would be there to help her film.

"Uh hu." ayla said sarcastically probably still fuming about her forgetting to at the very least call her and let her know she would not be able to come. "And do you mind my asking what was so important that for you that you forgot to even call me." ayla quipped. 'Yup still upset.' marinette however was unsure of what to say as she looked up to the ceiling where adrian was hopefully sleeping. Unsure exactly how to answer that as after she found out who hawk moth was while a lot more forgiving she was still pretty bitter about being turned into lady wi fi. And by default she was not vary trusting of adrian at the moment. However that was not what worried her. She was more worried about ayla putting word out of her news column about adrian which would put him in danger.

See after graduating ayla began putting most of her spare time into her new. Uh? Well news website. And to great success having hundreds of hits every hour of they day. After this she tried her hand at news anchoring on tv, but never made it to air as the owner of the news channel only wanted her to report on ladybug. That however was not what made her quit when she found out that she was not aloud to say anything without being told what to and when to say it. And the fact that the owner hated ladybug and wanted to smear campaign her. Well lets just say her job did not last long which marinette was grateful for how much she cared. After this she struck out on her own modifying her old website to a more professional style. Soon after the channel that manon's mother worked for asked if she would acepted a partnership deal with them to host her own news column on the new as well as make regular tv appearances. Ayla gladly accepted and now part of her and nino's studio apartment looked like a news room.

Nowadays you could see her running around most of france getting news for her column and even reporting on disasters,ceremonies and other things when the news station was short handed. And this was why she was worried as much as she trusted ayla would she be able to truster her to not report finding adrian in her column and keep it a secret.

"Eh hem." she heard ayla say through the phone clearly growing impatient waiting for an answer as to why she did not show. Deciding it best to while not lie but keep adrian out of things for now. "Sorry for bailing on you it's just an emergency happened and...-'huff' things here just got out of hand." slightly disheartened by her own statement. though it was true things did spiral out of control exceedingly quickly after finding adrian last night to the point where she completely forgot everything. As for as excuses were concerned that was technically an unarguable one but she still needed to put adrian's safety first and ayla second. As much as it hurt to withhold from her.

Ayla herself was quiet for several moments and after a while she began to wonder if she just hung up when. "well...If it was really an emergency I guess I can overlook it just this once. Besides it was all good a managed to get sabrina to help me with it in time for the ceremony. I just hope you and your family are all right." she finished giving the girl her concern. Sighing internally thankful to have ayla's forgiveness as she did feel bad for forgetting. "Thankyou ayla for forgiving me and we are all right now." she said sincerely. Marinette could then hear laughter on the other side of the line clearly she found what she said amusing. "Girl of course I forgive you. I couldn't stay mad at you for very long anyway even if I wanted to. Sides to make it up to me you just have to promise to come to the dedication ceremony. I heard a rumor that lady bug will be there." commenting now back to her usual upbeat self. Bless her heart she would have to find a way to make it up to her some how as she truly wanted to go last night but unfortunately adrian needed her help far more than ayla did. Though where she heard these rumors was beyond her as when she was ladybug she made no such promise "I would get you hopes up just because some said ladybug would show." she warned though appearing as ladybug for the dedication to a children's hospital was certainly something she would consider now. Though luckily the dedication would happen after it was built and that wouldn't be for months. Besides that it sounded like it all worked out with sabina coming to help her…"wait? Sabrina" she unknowingly said out loud.

"Him?" ayla hummed confused. "Oh ya I forgot to mention didn't I."the girl exclaimed in realization. "You see working of a news column while not exactly what i wanted to do is more than enough for me girl. Problem is running a news column on your own meant I was working more than I had girl time. So I had to hire some help and, surprise, surprise and who applied for the job." she finished clearly pleased. Marinette herself however was just amazed though as the last time she remembered seeing the orange haired girl for any length of time was during graduation. And while sure she did see of her from time to time 'I mean we both live in the same area of paris after all'. But since the day they graduated she really didn't see, see her. This new information did leave the question of how was she doing after all this time. After all it had been...one? two? ...two and a half years since graduation. Had it really been that long? She was amazed at how much time had passed since they left school and began to live there own lives.

However as much as she enjoyed talking to ayla she was still not feeling that great probably still feeling the ramifications of the stressful day prior. Unfortunately ayla was not quite finished. "Ya sabrina has been a angel sent from heaven. I'm getting three times the amount of work done in less than half the time it would take me to do it in a whole day. I swear she has a photographic memory she never forget anything. She's been filing the paperwork faster than I can write organizing the calendar before I have things planned…" ayla continued on rambling at how great it was to have the girl sabrina working for her. While normally marinette would be happy for her that she found such good help but unfortunately it was only succeeding in making her heachache return even stronger than before. Right now she just needed some peace and quiet and maybe something to eat. Something that would not happen while she was still on the phone with ayla.

Sighing heavily having enough decided to put it to an end "alya. Normally I would love to hear about how well your business is going but right now i don't feel that great and talking over the phone is not helping." she said trying to stop their conversation as politely as possible. And thought she did feel bad about it what she said was true. She did not feel that great right now, as she suspected she was still vary dehydrated, and thanks to last night she may as have said that she had not eaten since before finding adrian so exceedingly hungry. And to add insult to injury she had a headache that just would not leave.

After cutting alya off she could hear the girl gasp slightly "OH! I'm sorry I didn't know you were the one having the rough night." she said sympathetically. And all marinette could think was 'you have no idea' as he mind immediately went to the blond upstairs. Alya was quiet for a minute a vary not alya quality in marinette mind unable to remember a time where she did not have somthing it say. Well. when she was not working that is. "Well." alya said suddenly drawing marinette attention "I guess I will just have to come over there later when I'm finished with work here." Almost immediately marinette jaw went on a slack hing eyes growing wide. No that was not what she needed. She couldn't just have alya over right now considering given how she had no idea how the girl would react to adrien yet. "No alya wait I" she tried to say desperately to stop the blogger turned news reporter but to no avail. "Speaking of work I need to finish going over the footage from last night and post so see you later by. Beep"

Hearing the tone of alya hanging up on her was like having a nail being shoved in her ear as this was not what she wanted. The idea of alya coming over while adrian was in her room was like horrible. Not only did she have no idea how alya would react to the blond there was no way they could move him. And even if they could physically move him where would he go that alya would not see. Groaning loudly from the feeling of being trapped with no hope of escape. What could see do? Once alya said she was going to do something she tended to do with little being able to stop her. Save for that one time she fell down the flight of stairs while chasing her as ladybug at the park and broke her leg in six places. While that did teach her for not watching where she was going that still did not change the fact that she was coming hear. And knowing her she had maybe three hours to figure something out before alya arrived given how fast she could edit.

Leaning back against the couch looking over towards the windows and begin watching as the rain fell against the cold glass surface. "What a day." marinette said breathlessly knowing full well the irony of the statement as she had only gotten up maybe fifteen minutes ago. Taking a deep breath holding it for a second before releasing in an attempt to relieve herself from the stress she felt she was under. She sat there for several minutes before the rumbling of her stomach was brought to her attention. Sighing for what felt like the hundredth time that day which was really beginning to irritate her. So getting up and onto her feet she decided she needed to head downstairs to check on things with her parents and to ask how adrian was. That and the fact she needed to tell them alya was coming over weather she liked it or not.

However as she got up she became aware of an odd odor It didn't not take her long shower to find the source of the odder. Herself. It was not hard to figure out why ether she had been for the most part wearing the same clothes since yesterday and after dealing with adrian's dirty cloths, the stress as well as her...stomach turning display. "Looks like I will need to take a shower. Great" she said dismayed as she had things she would much rather do today. Adding on to the fact she was running on empty and she needed to check on adrian. And that's not counting the fact that she still needed to think of what to do about alya.

Realizing she was not getting anything done and that it would do no good to help adrian if she accidently made him sick headed to her room to get a change of cloths. Besides she wanted to see how adrian was doing anyway so this was a good chince to ask tikki. So ignoring her hunger she walked up the stairs to the trap. She quickly threw open the trap and as soon as she did so the high pitched yelp could be heard. "Tikki come out it's me." she said knowing fully well who tell out the surprised cry. Moments later a little red spot of light peeked from the beds edge. "Oh it's you." she said relieved "marinette you scared me I thought you where sabine or tom". Marinette unfortunately could not help but smile at the little in her short lived state of panic. "Sorry tikki." apologizing to the little spirit as she entered and closed the trap behind her.

After entering she headed over to her bed climbing the stairs ignoring tikki as she went to adrians side. She knew she should keep her distance so that he did not get any sicker but could not resist a peek to see how he was doing. A moment later tiki joined floating beside her head like a small red guardian angel. She could hear tikki saying something but ignored it as her attention was on the boy who finally looked like he was asleep. "How is he?" she asked suddenly casing the spirit to stop talking and look at her holder. Tikki however just let her gave go to the boy as well. Taking a deep non existent breath before speaking "he's better. Though not by much he is no longer in danger but he still has a high fever and I can just feel his infection its receding slightly since he came here. Though It will quite some time before it will leave him for good." as much as marinette expected this it was still a blow to hear it. "Though." tikki said getting the girls attention again "my presence seems to be helping he heal fast then he would on his own." she said looking at the girl with a smile. "It looks like you were right marinette my good luck is making him have a 'giggle' miraculous recovery" tikki said humorously and marinette for her efforts could not help but smile, if only slightly.

While she was still heartbroken over what happened to adrian it did at least comfort her a little bit to know that he was no longer in harm's way at least. And that so long as tikki stayed with adrian he was sure to get better. Given enough time that is. However that meant she couldn't be ladybug for several days or even weeks till his peninoma was gone. Once his illness was gone he would still be weak and would take a lot of time to recover but he would not need constant attention. While even after he recovered she would make sure that tikki stayed close to him as possible to help speed things up. For now at least she knew nothing bad would happen so long as tikki was near him. So she would have to take care to avoid trouble as she would be unable to spots on for a while.

Satisfied for now she left his temporary bed side and returned to the ground where she collected some clean cloths much to tikkis puzzlement. Her confusion clearly showing through when she spoke "What are doing marinette? I thought you would want to be near adrian." she asked clearly confused. Marinette just sighed before continuing her task at hand "I'm getting some cloths so I can take a shower." stating begrudgingly as she would rather quick get something to eat then check in with her parents so they know that alya would be stopping by. But if she didn't she would just make herself sick. So as much as it pained her she would have to ignore adrian for now to take care of herself. However she could just feel the presence of the kwami behind her as opposed to being near adrian like she asked. Letting out a huff of frustration before speaking "I need to take a shower so I don't get sick or make adrian sicker. Then I need to check with ma ma and pa pa as well as get something to eat. Oh and that's not counting the fact that alya is coming over later." she finished exasperated by everything going on. "What? What do you mean ayla is coming over? don't tell me you invited her with everything going on right now. We both know that she is still sore with adrian after she found out about his father!" the little spirit was blown away as it showed with her high pitched shout.

"Tikki. Quite." the girl said venomously before both heard a stifled groan from adrian casing the little spirit to cover her mouth with an oops in realization. After they both checked on adrian to make sure he was still asleep marinette just looked at the sprit slightly cross. not by the accusation but because of the shouting as she still had a headache and even if she didn't she still would not appreciate being woken up by loud yelling in adrian's position. After a minute of staring marinette let out the breath she had been holding before elaborating on what happened. "Tikki I did not invite her over. She called me to see where I was last night after I missed the groundbreaking. I told her I wasn't feeling well and I did not want to talk over the phone. And she invited herself and hung up before I could stop her...you know how she get." the girl explained and it was true. Tikki knew as well as anyone that once alya said she was going to do something there would be little to stop her.

"What are we going to do?" she asked after a minute but marinette did not know how to answer simply remaining quite. Thankfully tikki seemed to understand her unwillingness to talk about it, taking the hint that she did not feel like talking about it at the moment. Though it still left her wondering what were they going to do? Alya was going to come over sooner or later and knowing her before too long and no matter what she said to the girl she would come. So she was ether going to have to find a way to keep her out of her room without question or find a way to break it to alya that he was here without her blowing a fuse. Either way there was not much she could do about it right now. She would just have to cross that bridge when she came to it. So gathering up the things she needed she left tikki telling her to stay with adrian before leaving.

A.N "what you actually think I was going to bring it there tisk, tisk this is a teen flick shame on any why though I was going to go there. In the imortal words of lara croft 'you think you've seen enough. Though I not going to bring out a shotgun but you get my point."

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A shower was exactly what she needed as she walked down stairs to see how things were going with ma ma and pa pa. Currently the parisian girl was wearing a lucky bright red shirt with golden yellow trim with the chinese kanji for good luck embroidered on the back in the same golden color. A stereotype maybe but she did not care and besides she could use all the good luck she could get right now. For pants with was wearing a matching set of pants red with gold trim. With the kanji for prosperity on the right leg. Now one may ask where she got them and the answer was simple she got them from the same cousin whose cloths adrian was wearing. Now he had never once been anywhere near the country of china so it was no surprise when he found these cloths online and gave them to her for christmas last year. But culture aside she quite liked them as the fit well where comfortable and hay it's the thought that counts. Having made it to the bottom of the stairs she contemplated snatching a few pastries to eat. That and she had to warn her parents that alya was coming over which was something she was not looking forward to explaining. But it was a bridge she would have to cross eventually may as well be now.

As she rounded the corner the the bakery's back door she couldn't hear any of the distinctive noise of back that she had grown used to. Which given how pa pa usually baked fresh bread or finished baking around or eleven to noon it was kinda odd. And that wasn't counting special orders that usually came in. But she quickly remembered the weather and how it had been raining since yesterday chances are people where less appted to go out to the bakery unless they needed to. Opening the backdoor confirmed her suspicions as the dishes were already finished something that would usually be done around one or two o'clock even with a matchin.

Seeing that neither of her parents where in the back or up stairs meant that they were in the store front tending to ether the store or customers. Walking through the kitchen being careful to avoid any potential hazards in her path. And with her new luck made it to the door without a hitch. Though she was always careful even with her bad luck gone "once bitten twice shy" as they say. Stopping in front of the door and looking through the window on i she could see both her parents behind the counter. Both were talking to one another seemingly about something pleasant as evident by their smiling faces. Pa pa's hand was on the counter with ma ma's on top clearly they were happy. with what been happening recently it's moments like these that she needed to remember. After all it was to protect moments like this that she became ladybug. Well that and saving the city from itself in a way but not the point.

However deciding to stop hiding from her own parents she opened the door and tried to put a smile on her face. "Good morning." trying to sound cheerful casing both of her parents to turn to see her there smiles growing wider upon their eyes meeting her face. "We were beginning to wonder where you where." pa pa said cheerfully. "Sorry." the bluenette started "I just woke up a little while ago and I wasn't feeling that great." she confessed to her parents. "Don't worry we noticed" pa pa said humorously with a smile. Sabine however was not so amused "dear that is not nice.". Marinette however was just baffled as to what ether of them could be going on about. "What exactly do you mean you knew?" she asked unsure of what her pa pa was getting at. Pa pa then pointed up to the ceiling following his point looking up she was still baffled to his point. "We heard you wake up when you fell off the couch" he explained much to sabines dismay.

Marionettes cheeks turned red with slight embarrassment as she rubbed the back of her head before chuckling humorously. "Sorry" marinette confessed meekly clearly vary embarrassed by causing the disturbance. Ma ma was much kinder however as the women stood up and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder giving a kind smile. "Don't worry marinette you didn't do anything wrong." she said before sparing a glance to tom making him turn to look the other way. Sabine then turned back to marinette "how are you/ feeling better?" she asked slight worry in her tone.

Marinette just smiled though "em him. Much" she said pleased and it was true she did feel much, much better. While she was still famished her headache was gone now as she did not feel nauseated anymore. So in the end she felt great all things considered. Though this mood did sour some when she remembered someone who was not feeling so great up stairs. Though she persisted she just had to remind herself that solong as tikki was with him he was guaranteed to get better. Though it was strange now that she thought of nearly five or six year she had always had tikki with her. The kwami always being at the young parisian's side aiding her whenever she could. But now without the little red spirit at her side she honestly felt empty. Like she was missing a part of herself.

"Is something wrong marinette?" braking from her self induced trance marinette noticed the concerned look of her mother in front of her. Seeing this it was clear that her dislike of having tikki be apart from her was showing and ma ma had taken notice. 'Oops' she thought to herself be masked it all with a smile. "Sorry i was just...thinking about something". She immediately regretted saying this however as both ma ma and pa pa looked at her slightly concerned. Her ma ma backed off slightly most likly wanting to give the girl her space. "Is there something wrong?" ma ma asked it was true not having tikki felt wrong but she couldn't just say that out loud now. No she would just have to play it off. Besides there was something else she could say to keep them telling. "Oh nothing much other than alya being alya and inviting herself over case she thought I was sick." Though it was slightly ironic as if someone got randomly sick you generally avoid them till its safe. 'Why she want's to come over not knowing if I was contagious seem reckless even for her.' she thought silently.

Both parents gaped in surprise as they remembered vary clearly the argument that the sisterly pair got into about adrian a few days after he was rightfully trying to defend him while alya was accusing him of being in on the event stating the 'innocent people don't run'. Marinette then defend him by saying that the only reason he ran 'was to protect himself'. while Alya just came back and bitterly said that if he was so called "innocent" he would have no reason to protected himself. After several minutes of this the argument had to get broken up before things got out of hand. In the end it was plain that alya was still awful bitter about have both herself and her boyfriend akumatized. And while nino himself was rather indifferent to the whole even about being akumatized. He still wisely opted to not involve himself with the argument and merely helped break up the fight. But ultimately the argument ended with both parties being left with a bad taste in there mouths. One from betrayal of taking a supposed enemy's side. The other feeling hurt that her closest friend could feel such anger towards not only herself but to any of her friends.

After this event happened nether ayla or marinette spoke to each other for over a month, though both tikki and her parents encouraged her to make up. And while she could not speak for ayla the reason she avoided contacted was just so she would not have a repeat argument that would further damage their relationship. During that month she got regular updates from nino often saying that he was not quite sure what was going on with her. And on several occasions stating she did things that did not make scenes even for her. Like putting the wrong images up on the lady blog by mistake. In the end after about a month month and a half they resumed contact and forgave each other. Though it became a sort of silent agreement that adrian was a topic not to be mentioned.

So having said red head coming over or more accurately inviting herself over like she always did since they were five. While adrian was upstairs was not something to be taken lightly. "Oh dear." her ma ma said breathlessly clearly vary worried. And for good reason, while she was unlikely to physically harm adrian out right that still did not change the fact she would still likely report on him. "You have to call her back and tell her your not hear, or bussy... or something." pa pa tried to say desperate to think of someway to keep alya away. She just shook her head though "I tried that she didn't pick up and even if she did I probably couldn't get a word in edgewise anyway. You know how she gets when she works." she responded. And she was right as much as the three hated to there was little they could do once alya set out to do something.

Begin left with no good answers to the situation tom and sabin tried think of ideas to dissuade alya from stopping by with out sound suspicious. Marinette mean while just stood there watching her parents. Unlike them she knew better apparently as trying to stop alya without a ladybug sighting was nigh impossible. And with tikki out of service till adrian was better that would be a while. But she kept this to herself as it would do little good in stopping her parents and sooner or later they would realize this. However before ether party could a vary distinct sound came to the ears of all three. "Growl!" casing all three to look towards the source of the sound. Which was coming from marinette face growing red with embarrassment as she chuckled nervously. Both her parents smiled humorously realizing what was going on. "I think the first you should do is get something to eat before alya gets here or she will be the least of your trouble." her ma ma said coming up and placing her arm around her shoulder. "Come on let's get lunch ready." she suggested and while she never had breakfast given the time and how hungry she was she really did not care right now. What she did no was that she would be unable to think properly when alya did finally come. And she would likely need all of it to try and ether get her out of the house or at least keep her out of her room. And if...heaven forbid she does see adrian try and convince him he is a victim. She just prayed it all worked out for adrian's sake.

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After eating a filling meal and helping with some chores to help pay back her parents for letting adrian stay. Something told her that her parents were only letting him stay for her sake so she felt obligated to pay them back for that. But the longer she waited alya the more her suspense grew not knowing when the girl would show up. Currently she was sitting with adrian watching over him checking his temp no and then and changing his cloth. While tikki took a nap from staying up all night monitoring him till she fell asleep a little while ago. She had told the spirit to watch him but not tire herself out. "I wanted her to keep an eye on you but not drain all her power staying up all night what happened if a stray akuma showed up." the girl commented out loud unconcerned as to adrian hear as he had been out cold since arriving not once waking from what her ma ma told her while making lunch.

While it was strange to be talking to someone who was unconscious let alone adrian of all people. After a while it did not bother her as much. Though what did bother her profusely was his condition as even though tikki was helping he was still so frail and thin it would take weeks maybe even months to get some meat back on his bones. He was just so gaunt and frail that from what ma ma said if they feed him too much too quickly are any solids for a time that it could kill him. This meant in his state he was too weak to even eat anything solid because his body just could not produce what was needed to digest it. So broths and other nutrient rich blends would be on the menu for adrian for quite a while. In essence he for lack of better terms will be treated like a giant baby for a while till he's strong as he will be unable to care for himself. Though even if he was awake she half expected that he would be too weak to complain about it. It still did not help her justify the guilt she had over the whole ordeal though. And most likely would for some time.

Regardless of how she personally felt of the matter though what was done is done and there's no changing it. All she could do was move forward and hope for the best while walking adrian through it as best she could. Though thinking back on it that did remind her "I wonder have you heard of the stray akuma?" she asked out loud in wonder. Given how he was on the streets it was hard to imagine him not hearing about...but then again he was avoiding all contact with others so maybe he hadn't heard about it. Her mind going back to about a year ago a number of people where getting acclimatized at random. The only difference between the new akuma and the usual kind was that the people were usually covered in all black and purple and where more animalistic attack people at random just because. At first people thought it was adrian or even gabrial. But gabriel was under constant observation and as for adrian well she had the butterfly brooch and only she knew where it was. Eventually it was discovered that under the former agrest manor which even to this day still lay in ruins was a hidden room. In said room was a number of akuma most likely created when gabriel was still hawk moth. How the room stayed undiscovered to now who knows but what was discovered was a lot of akuma that needed purifying.

After this event people would start getting acclimatized at complete random and begin attack the city. The media began calling the event the strays do to the nature of the string of akumatization. Thankfully however because most of the people who were aromatized had little to no negative emotions they were extremely weak and she could usually take on ten or more at once. Thankfully after a couple of months they managed to round up most of the stay's and purify them. Though it did make her wonder where gabrial found the time to make so many and why for that matter. Given how he clearly had no control over them as if he did the first thing he would have done was break out of prison and try and steal back the brooch. Which was another matter the akuma seemed to be attracted to it. And while she kept that part to herself it did make her wonder why though it was possibly because it was the brooch that made them akuma in the first place.

Either way it was a vary tense few months in the country of france months that she rather not relive ever again if she can. For obvious reasons. "Thinking back on it I wonder how your father is doing" she thought out loud after thinking about the strays event. However a groan of discomfort and pain got her attention. Looking down she could see that adrian was clearly uncomfortable about something. And she began to wonder if it was because she mentioned his father. While there was no proof of his reaction being related to mention of his father she could just tell. So taking note of this she would have to make sure that she never mentioned him again in front of adrian. In an effort to relax him she changed his cloth again which seemed to help from the cool water on his hot skin. After a minute he returned to his while maybe not resting but his slightly more relaxed state.

Sighing pleased that he seemed to calm down back into a somewhat relaxed state of sleep state of sleep. Returning to her vigil she considered checking to see if she could find something in the book that master fu let her keep to help adrian heal faster. When "KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!" looking from her spot next to adrian she to the source of the noise being the trap to her room. "Marinette! Are you up there?" she heard ma ma calling coming from below 'well that answered who'. "Ya ma ma I'm hear" she called back to her ma ma begining to wonder what was going on as if she needed something she would just simply open the hatch rather than yelling. However this question was quickly answered when her ma ma spoke again "well I just thought I would lat you know that alya is here and would like to see you". Almost immediately marinettes eyes widened in shock that she was hear so early. Looking down towards her clock she could see that it was only three pm which meant in true alya fashion she would likely be here till after dark. Which while not forever would still be hours from now and with adrian like she did not know how they could keep checking up on him. Looking between adrian and the trap several times before sighing heavily. As much as it hurt to leave tim she had to make sure that alya stayed in the dark about this and away from her room. At least until he recovered enough to be moved. "Marinette?" she heard her ma ma ask mostly likly because of how long it was taking to answer "coming." she responded in him one last look over she headed down towards the trap starting to regret picking up that phone to day.

Opening the trap and heading down stairs she could see her mother had left the stair well and returned to the front door where she some how managed to keep alya waiting. Conversing with the girl while they waited for her to arrive. Once she did set down from there stairs the face of alya immediately brightened up immensely having grown slightly impatent no doubt. "Her she is." she could heat her mother say stepping aside to let the girl into to there house. Immediately she could see the plaid wearing women giving her usual display of confidence. While much more developed then she was when they were teens unlike marinette who alya's appearance was roughly the same as she continued to wear plaid I'll be it a bright frog green today with white checker. She was also wearing her usual jeans I'll be it longer than normal given the weather. With conveniently had a magenta and white coat or sliker in her arm as well. Like usual she did not have a purse or bag with her as unless she was going somewhere that warranted it she opted to not carry one. As she often considered having a purse around all the time a nuisance to carry around when people hardly use them for anything other than glasses also had also changed being while still ...eh. Wait? She wasn't wearing any glasses. what 's going on?

"HAY GIRL!" she started off in her usual over the top way "how's it going? She asked. Marinette did not answer though still staring at the girl who since she was five wore glasses who now had none. Alya seemed to take notice of this as her smile faltered slightly "um girl what are you looking at?" she asked quizzically. Raising her finger up to point at alya "ah. Um? Whe-where are your glasses?" the bluenette asked confusion plain to see.

Alya however just looked more confused "my glasses? What are you talking about I...OH!" her confusion turned to realization quickly understanding what marinette was going on about. "I see what's going on now. Sorry I forgot to tell ya. But I just started using contacts and the order just came in this morning. Sorry I forgot to tell you but I figured i'd surprise ya. Suppose I forgot though...so surprise!" she said giving a somewhat sheepish grin and marinette could not help but smile in return. This was classic alya while alya being the multi tasker she was she regularly ether misplaced or simply forgot about other things while working. Like importants dates, homework, there graduation, or her cousin's wedding. She made it in time to be a bridesmaid granted just a bit behind from following her as ladybug. 'Now I know why she hired sabrina. Without her she would probably forget she actually has a job while on a story.' she thought humorously to herself knowing how scatter brained alya could be when distracted by her own work.

"No it's fine I just wasn't expecting it" the bluenette said politely to dispel any worries the plaid had (little rhyme there :3). In truth Marinette was by no means offended just surprised was all. In all honestly she couldn't remember a time when alya don't wear glasses of some kind be they to correct her vision or for sunlight. So seeing her suddenly no wearing them anymore was quite a change and one she would need to get used to. Thanks." the girl exclaimed again in her usual over the top way "it's just while i don't mind glasses...they just kept getting in the way while on assignment for the station and a few times they fell off and I couldn't see 'sigh...it was getting pretty messy so I switched. and now I can chase down ladybug no matter whats going on with out worry." finishing her statement as if proud to finally have contacts." marinette however could not hide her slight sarcastic face while thinking ' I wouldn't get your hopes up. You may have to wait a few weeks to start chasing me.'. Thankfully displaying such a face at alya's displays was by far par the course as everyone ever her parents did it at her antics. So when her flash of nerves slash sarcasm came over her no one took notice.

"So how are you? Feeling better I hope." the plaid said completely changing gears from before. Again in typical alya fashion quickly changing from one thing to the next in no time flat. "Better now thank you alya" marinette responded humble thankful to have such a considerate friend...well usually. "Oh ya that reminds me." alya exclaimed suddenly gaining both marinette and sabines attention. "I have something and trust me you're going to wanna see it and I show you on your computer?".

As soon as alya asked that question the world stopped around marinette. No she could not go into her room that would be a disaster she would almost immediately see adrian. But what could she do? She couldn't just telling her no without reason that would look for to suspicious. "excuse me Marinette would you and alya mind watching the story front I need to take care of an earned and your father need to fill a last minute order." her ma ma asked sparing a glance towards her room. It took a moment but she quickly realized what she was doing. "Sure no problem we can take care of that for you take your time." she responded knowing that the errened was checking on adrian and that this was an excuse to keep alya away from adrian for a time without appearing suspicious. "Wait hang on what about?" but never got a chance to finish. "Sorry alya you can show me later someone has to watch the storefront to prevent robbery. This time however marinette did not give alya a chance to respond as she pushed alya out the door. Before leaving however she looked over her shoulder to see her ma ma giving her a knowing smile. And silently she gave her a thank you in return for her timely actions while she continued to move the complaining alya.

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Sabine watched as the door behind marinette and alya closed letting out a deep sigh that her ploy worked. "That was too close." she commented before looking back up towards the ceiling where adrian would hopefully rest without interruption now. She them looked back towards the clock it was coming up on three P.M and she needed to step out and get some items for dinner as she had accidentally forgot to have marinette get some things when she was out last. This meant that she would have to fetch them for dinner tonight. Though she did not mind however before that could happened she had to check on adrian to make sure he was well off before she left.

Deciding to get moving she walked up the stairs to marinettes room quickly forcing her way in as her motherly side began to take hold. Leaving the trap open either not caring from her instincts taking over or deeming it unnecessary. While it was most likely the former it was hard to tell. Going up a second flight of stairs to reach the bed wear the boy lay unmoving. While she was no doctor her grandmother was a village healer and in her free time learned what she could. And that knowledge came in handy when you wear raising a small child who got sick often because of playing out with her friend during flu season. So using what she knew she began to examine the boy and while she was not a hundred percent sure as without modern equipment you could never be too sure with peninuma. But she could swear he was showing signs of improvement…. "But that can't be we only began treating him last night, he shouldn't start showing signs of major improvement for several days earliest."

Looking up towards the roof of the house and she muttered a silent prayer to her family's ancestors and the guardians spirits of her family. Looking back down to the boy she smiled gently it was truly miraculous his recovery speed. She had been afraid that he may die in her home believing he had been forgotten by the world. But now it looked like he may recover after all. "It looks like you have a guardian protector watching over you from afar adrian. You just may pull through this and maybe find peace." she said rubbing the sweaty hair from his face. While she would likely never know this for a long time to come there was sabine had no idea how right she was about him having a guardian watching over him. Not from afar but from very near by as sleeping underneath marinettes bed in her own house of sorts was tikki. What even guardians need to take a nap now and then.

However she needed to run to the store soon other wise there would be no food for her family and maybe alya and no more herbal soup for adrian. So setting about her task to grabbed a medicine bottle that was next to the basin and spare rag. Opening up the bottle then poured out a set amount into the cap before stopping. With the easy part over came the harder task of getting adrian to drink it. So slipping her arm underneath the downed boys head lifting it up only to receive a grunt of discomfort. "that's good" a grunt of discomfort meant that he was no so far gone in sickness that he was lost to the world. It meant the he was simply in a deep sickness induced sleep. Once she felt that his head was at a good angle she brought the medicine to his lips. Though she hardly expected him to open his mouth for her so using the arm under his head she slid it so her hand was able to touch the side of his mouth. And this was the disgusting part as she put her fingers inside of his mouth and began to try and pry his mouth open. She grimaced at this and though she had the misfortune to have done this before many years ago she never enjoyed it. It did not take long though to get his mouth open thankfully as he was still too weak to put up much fight. With that done she began to slowly deposit the contents of the cap into his mouth.

While nothing happened at first about a half a minute in his next dose he suddenly bit down hard on her fingers casing her to gasp in surprise and pain. Sabine however persevered and pushed on. "I know this is not your fault and you don't mean to hurt me." she said calmly forcing through the pain. While to weak and sick to do much he regardless of this had plenty of fight left in him. "It's good to see you have some fight left. It means that you won't just give up and pass away, as you truly want to live." seeing a patent with this much fight even unconscious in this state was a very good sigh. Once the content of the cap was empty and thankfully down his throat without incident it did not take long after for his jaw to lose tension and go slack. This allowed her to remove her fingers which stung immensely now from the bite as well as give her a chance to inspect the damage. Looking at her hand she could see vary clear bite indentations from his teeth. It hurt immensely but it was well worth it and she had honestly suffered far worse caring for someone with was a minor sacrifice.

However taking a closer look she noticed some specs of black in the bite casing her to furrow her brow. Having a dreading scenes of suspicion she peeled open his lips and visibly winced at what she saw. Bacteria. Bad bacteria in large amounts. His teeth wear covered in black and green spots from improper care. "I was afraid of this" she muttered irritably at the luck this boy had. This was not good as sabine could only count the was you could get sick or die, or sick then die from bad teeth. Not too mention the fact that he would have a nightmarish time eating. "Sigh this needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later. Looks I need to put a toothbrush on the list of things I need to get to night." she said to herself making clear mental note. As adrian's teeth needed a proper cleaning soon, And with him being unable to do it for himself they would have to do it for him. Though she would need help as while giving medicine was one thing giving a proper cleaning to a uncooperative and unconscious patient was another.

So taking careful note of what she needed to get for him as she sate there she began to take stock of the situation her family had gotten into. And thinking about the boy she could not help but pity him and while she knew no one liked being pitied she could not help it. Over the last twentyfour hours she had remembered many times when adrian came over to help marinette. It was so sweet of him to take time to help her in fact he even taught marinette chinese better than she ever could. Though he was still oblivious to her girls crush on him he did not seem to mind helping her in fact he seemed to enjoy it. While it sounded strange he seemed to actually enjoy homework or any form of boring work as if it were the most normal thing….but now with him in the state he was in she would be surprised if he did not just curled into a ball and hide under marinette bed once he woke up. It was rather sad really as bad as it sounded she actually wanted the two to get together. As she honestly felt that the boy was perfect for her daughter in almost every way. And while it did sound bad like she was trying to arrange a marriage for her daughter and the blond. but she felt in her heart that adrian would do nothing but love and care for her.

In fact she could even say looking at him that if she ever had a son that she hoped he would be like him. Honestly while she never said it out loud she honestly did want to give marinette a sister or brother. While alya was a good surrogate for that it still was not the same. She herself had always wanted a son as well as her daughter. While it was silly and she would never change anything she had always hoped that she would have both a son and a daughter to raise with tom. ...also as terrible as it was what happened to adrian she could not help but look at it as her chance to be able to care for someone like a son… a surrogate son but a son nonetheless. And that feeling of having another child even if not her own was immensely pleasing for some strange reason.

And while she was hesitant at first to let him stay, not out of fear or spite but out of concern for him. As she was afraid that he may be endangered while there would always be that risk of someone anyone finding out about him, for her it changed nothing about how she felt. Now she was determined to see to it that this boy be reraised if necessary how a boy as kind as him should be raised. She would not let not only this boy fall to darkness but also take her only chance at raising honestly a son of her dreams. Her only wish however was that her selfish desire did not require someone else to suffer the way he had to achieve it. Casing gult to raise in her as while she did want a son she never wanted it to happen like this. That and part of her made her feel like she was taken someone else's son away from them. And though she did not count his Fùqīn (chinese word for father) after what the horrible man put him through. she honestly felt more like she was stealing him from his Mǔqīn (chinese word for mother). And it felt horrible.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself as she knew that falsely accusing herself was wrong as she did not leave adrian to the wolves it was his Fùqīn. Infacted last she remembered marinette mentioning she said that alya found out by accident that his mother disappeared one day and was presumed deceased. So in the end if you thought about it he had no one left to turn to as both his parents for all intensive purposes wear gone. So not only should she not feel bad, instead she should feel humbled and blessed as she had the chance to do what his parents ether couldn't do or won't do.

Turning her head slightly noticing the time as it was no 3:15 P.M this meant that she had gotten distracted for nearly forty minutes thinking. Sighing lightly as she got up "I better get going or I will never get back in time to make dinner." she commented to no one particular. And as much as she wanted to fawn over this boy and give him a little something to prove that the world was not against him. She knew that was marinettes job, it had to be. This was marinettes right and while she would support her in any way she could in the end it was still marinettes race to run. "Don't worry adrian. There are still people that care for you...just don't give up on the world." she said to the sleeping boy. Moments later bending over to kissing his brow in an effort to wish him good dreams. Getting up and walking away to got to the store she turned to give one last look to him wishing that she could take his pain away like every TRUE mother knows how. Before finally leaving him in peace.

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A FEW MINUTES LATER.

…."yeawwwwwwnnnnnnnn! Him? Where is everybody marinette. What time is it." the little red spirit asked as she came out of her makeshift home under the bed. Completely oblivious to what had transpired only minutes before.

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 **Oh boy that was a long chapter and I am glad if you stuck with it till now. I gotta say i've come a long way on this story. And I have made many changes to the story and plot. And I got to say I did a pretty good job so far. I mean sure i might need to retype everything eventually but for now it's fine. Besides the best part about a story like this is that there are infinite possibilities.**

 **Any way if some of you are not up with the game just yet when it come to the chinese words. Sabine is 100% chinese let's just make that clear. And her primary language prior to moving to france in the shows universe is by default chinese. So to stay true to the spirit of the show and to the cannon of these points every time she uses common phrases like father, mother, certain types of foods or objects she will refer to them in chinese rather than english. Well frech technical but you get my point.**

 **Also if you have not noticed as I am not limited to an animation budget and cg modeling. many characters will go through outfit changes regularly. So in marinettes case she goes from her usually to her red outfit. But some characters will still for the most part wear the same thing. Also at some point in this story for those who are concerned and have asked chloe will make an appearance in this story. Spoiler alert. Infacted she was supposed to appear in this chapter but that was one of the changes I made. But she will appear before too long. With in eight chapters she will show up. Hopefully :l**

 **And that's pretty much it all I have for you this time. As always if you enjoyed it hit the fav button and if you wish to hear more of this when the next chap is ready hit the follow. And please I implore you readers to please type even a short review about what you think, mistakes, what you though, or really anything that you think is pertinent as it truly helps me to hear from you the viewers about you thoughts and opinions as it pushes me to make a better story. So please I ask that you share your thoughts it makes me happy to know that I bring joy to you all through my works and I would love you to share those feelings.**

 **And that's all I have but don't worry tune in next time in a week or two and the next chapter should be ready by then. Till then BUG OUT.**


	6. Chapter IV tooth and chole

**Ok fan It's me again and i am back with the next in the epic. Ok first off on this short doct I would like to apologize for how long this took to get out. I really, really am sorry for how long it took as I wanted to get this out two weeks ago I swear but things just happened. I had to start work on repairing my new cat noir suit, visiting my 90 year old grandmother who's shoulder got messed up recently been trying to get spring clean out of the way, and like six other things. Poor excuse I know but I'm honest I wanted to have this done long time ago. And finally getting my switch did not help ether. So sorry.**

 **Also I do confess i will likely need to redo several parts of this chapter later when the story is either farther along or finished. Also I do have a plain in mind for my end game which you will get clued into a tad later on in this chapter. Can you guess what it is? Who knows love to see you all try and guess.**

 **Lastly with season two of the show on the horizon I get that some things about the canon universe will be added or changed and I am fully aware of that. So with that in mind I will be adding information from the show to my story so long as it does not directly affect my story too much there will be some obvious changes. Its fanfiction after all but I will try to stay as faithful to the show while also trying to tell my own story.**

 **Ok with all that out of the way please enjoy and if you like, fav and follow, and please leave a review I do enjoy those and have a miraculous day.**

chapter four tooth and chloe

Down in the shop things were busy as the rain had begun to lessen to a light shower which was all it took for the masses to come out of hiding. Sabine had left a little while ago and had yet to return from shopping for dinner. Tom mean while was currently in the back taking care of an emergency last minute order for a client who was going to pick it up by six just before closing and it was nearly five thirty now and he was only half done. This meant the story was temporarily in marinette control as she with some help from alya ran the store. Alya mean while was still a tad burnt ironically about being cut off and not being able to show...whatever it is she wanted to show her. But once they got down stairs and started helping customers she got into it and was her usual jubilant self. And while there were still questions about why alya was there as several patterns recognised her. She just spun it off as her spending the day with her BFF marinette.

In the end while marinette was not pleased by her inviting herself over, but that said she was very happy to see her long time friend. She had not seen hide nor plaid of the girl for several weeks due to her covering a story near the coast of france. Combine that with her busy schedule, the depressing weather and what happened the other day sleeping in her room, and you have a recipe for depression in the mix. But now at least the parisian bluenette was feeling rather pleased now as it was helping to keep her mind off more touchy matters.

Currently marinette was standing behind the counter helping ring up a customer who had several bags of fresh pastry and bread. while a line of people behind her waited for their turn to checkout then be off. Alya on the other hand was running around literally getting all the pastries from the cases for customers. And while marinette said she could handle thing, she had been raised the bakery all her life after all. But alya seeing a challenge did not take no for an answer bound and determined… though it did take a few tries and marinette pointing for her to get the right ones. But she caught on soon enough. As the time ticked past the customers came and went, after nearly an hour baker eventual emptied out only leave one remaining customer left.

"Thank you come again" marinette bid farewell with a smile as the last customer from there rash turned round leaving the bakery. Once the doors closed this left the shop quite only the rain out side being heard. "Agggggg!" the silent atmosphere being broken casing marentette to turn in alarm only to see alya hunched over a bit holding her back. Making her concerned that maybe she threw her back out like she nearly did the day she broke her leg. Her fears wear quickly dashed thankfully as the plaid began to complain "oh man! Girl I've run all over paris chasing ladybug but honestly this was by far the most exhausting things i've ever done. Please tell me you don't have to do this often and it just happens every now and then." the planet complained.

Marinette however had to force to keep in a laugh though at these words. "No we don't do this every other week." she responded vaguely just to see what the redhead would do. Alya then sighed heavily in relief "that's a relief girl I thought I was going to run myself into the ground." she commented. Taking a seat in the coroner to take a breather clearly assuming that it only happens every now and then. But boy was she wrong. "Rather" the bluenette said offhandedly getting the girl who was trying to collect herself. "We actually have to deal with this every day. Sometimes even twice a day, and even all day if there is a holiday coming up that people are preparing for." she stated truthfully being amused by the red. As it was the truth they wear one of the most popular bakeries in paris so it should come as no surprise they business boomed. Alya however was not so amused leaving marinette with a priceless look on her face. If it wear possible to have you jaw detach and fall to the floor like in the cartoons she would bet it would have. The girls shock was only made more evident when she muttered "th-that just isn't right."

After a few minutes letting alya recover the pair began to talk about various things in there lives. As now when both of them thought of it quite a while since ether had seen each other due to their busy live getting in the way. With alya being gone for nearly a month doing work by the cost for the station, while marinette working feverishly to save the money she needed to move there was just no time. But here right now they had a chance to catch up on everything that had happened. Though the bluebell wanted to check in on adrian despite alya's presence she had to admit she needed this to unwind. While alya on the other hand was just blabbing on about all the stuff she seen while on her work trip.

"And while I had seen it on t.v when i seen the ocean for the first time in person though I was just like… speechless I had never seen anything like it. I mean sure ladybug is much cooler but there was just something about seeing the ocean for the first time. There was just nothing like it you should real see it." the plaid wear girl went of as she talked about her trip excited having apparently only returned a few days ago. Sighing in content the former glasses wearer leaned back in her chair clearly very satisfied at the memory. "It was so amazing I know it was for work but still. The sight was something else. Ladybug will always be number one for me though." the girl commented with a laugh.

"it sounds like fun." marinette committed as alya finished her lament of her trip happy for the girl she viewed as a sister. It was quite frankly amazing what alya had accomplished in such a short amount of time though. just a few short years she had succeeded in doing what she had dream of ever since first meeting ladybug. In all honestly thinking about the first time as ladybug it was amazing how much time had past a little over six years ago she was just marinette. Now she was the city's savior, though thinking about it she did wonder wear the cat of ladybug and cat noir had go off too...but knowing how seratic that kitty was he was probably running around saving people and showing off on his own somewhere. Besides he had one of the most powerful magical artifacts in existence in his possession he would be fine. And he may have been a big flirt but he wasn't stupid he knew how to take care of himself.

"So marinette how is the fabric and clothing store coming. pic out a location to start your shop yet?" the plaid asked looking at her intently. Sighing heavily in defeat "no luck yet. I still need to save up more money before I can even start looking. I mean it's not just a building I need I need the money for all the equipment. And that not including me finding a place to live as well...I mean I can't just keep living here." she said waving her hand around the bakery as if to emphasise her point. "You can stay as long as you like! You know we don't mind!" they heard tom say making them look at the door to the back in disbelief. 'Could he hear us this whole time' the both wondered simultaneously utterly baffled by what just happened. "You know it's rude to eavesdrop." alya said in return to the big man currently decorating in back.

After a I minute of hearing no response alya let out a huff of irritation before returning to her more relaxed position. "And people say I'm noise." commenting on the recent interruption as she tried to unwind. Marinette could not help but smile at the irony of the situation, 'her calling someone else noisy'. "So how has business been going. Hope you haven't fallen behind without me around." red head said said smugly clearly trying to tease her. Marinette could not help but roll her eyes at the girl in her attempts to frustrate her. Just because she did not have her dream shop just yet but did she really need to go out of her way to tease her every time. "Yes i have been keeping up with my orders. With christmas being next month lots of people have been ordering scarfs and hats for gifts. So I have been very busy recently" the bluenette said as her mind was cast back to a very long list of things she needed to make before christmas so far she had made 10 scarfs, 6 pairs of mittens, 5 sweaters… no 5 ½ actually, and nearly 30 hats. And that was not including the ones she had yet to finish as she had nearly nearly a hundred other things she had to make before long.

Marinette let out a loud groan at this as with all the excitement from yesterday she had completely forgotten about all the work she still had to do. Rubbing her forehead irritated as she had no idea how she was going to take care of adrian, look for her own home and business, protect the city, and get all that work done. "Ah! Why can't things be easy for once?" she asked out loud not expecting an answer. "Him? What's that girl something wrong?" alya asked looking at her confused. Sighing heavily "nothing" she said looking up at the wall as she wondered how she was going to get all the work done. Speaking of adrian though it did make her wonder sparing a glance towards alya. Wondering what she thought of adrian now that all this time had past, with her only concern being from her getting so mad that one time when they argued.

"Oh come on surely it can't be that bad. I mean all ya gotta do is make a bunch of cookie cutter christmas stuff for people. That can't be to hard for you can it?" the redhead plaid said as though it was the simplest thing in the world. Marinette had to force herself to swallow a rude remark like 'if only you knew how hard to is to make nearly two hundred orders, and do it by hand. 'I'd like to see her try and fill that many orders before christmas and get them all delivered. At least as far as delivery was concerned she had a delivery man come twice a week to pick up the finished products to be delivered. She was just thankful she did not need to pay shipping. It was always the shipping that got you on anything every time, the shipping never failed to get you.

But being courteous she avoid using a sharp tongue on the redhead "alya. Even if it looks easy when I do it I can assure you it's not." she said as politely as possible trying her best to not sound snarky. This level of discipline that she had begun to practice as ladybug showed as she continued "even if the individual pattern or patterns are simple. You're forgetting that I have to make over a hundred. So even if I have a bunch of simple things to make in an afternoon, it comes down to finding time to do it with everything else going on..."sigh" So it's not that easy, maybe the individual items are easy on a given day but all of them together are quite challenging." she admitted calmly once again beginning to thinking about how she was going to finish all the orders and take care of adrian. As she was having trouble with getting her chores done while being able to work on her winter order. And that was before adrian came into the picture, now she had to do all that and take care of adrian.

Alya however just looked at the bluenette with an unconvinced smile "girl you sell yourself short. You once made a derby hat in less than two hours. AND! showed up chloe while also winning the contest. This has got to be a piece of cake." she commented proudly making it clear that the plaidette had little idea of how strenuous production line work can be. Considering she did most of the work by hand and it was very likely that alya never would understand. Though as much as she would like to avoid this conversation and check in with the patent upstairs. it did give marinette pause for thought on what would happen if she convinced alya to try making a number of item by hand like she had to now. Nothing too hard and she might even allow use of a matching. But enough to prove to her how hard it actually was. Now that was not to say she did not enjoy it rather she enjoyed the challenge, she simply wanted the girl next to her to stop treating sewing like a simple pass time.

"Oh by i forgot to ask. Did." alyas words were interrupted however when the door to the kitchen was opened. Both girls looked to see tom appear in the doorway. Tom stood in the doorway his apron still around his waist with streaks of color from various decorations. Marinette however was slightly worried as he should still be decorating 'did something happen? I didn't hear anything but…' she questioned concerned hoping something bad did not happen. She was about to ask when the large parisian man spoke "sorry if I startled you. I just came to tell you about the order." this got the bluenette panic metter going "please don't tell me something happened to it?" the girl asked worried catching her pa pa off guard. "Oh no I just finished it. What happened was that the client asked if I could deliver it instead of picking it up as her guest arrived early for her party." he said putting the girl at ease. The one thing that always worried her to no end was the idea of failure.

Even now as ladybug she always struggled to accepted defeat, and no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't admit defeat. Though it did amaze how fast he finished her as last she checked which was only about twenty minutes ago he was only half done. Though it was possible she was wrong so who knows as she continued to listen to her pa pa. "I just wanted to tell you that I will be gone for about an hour. You can handle closing up things here on your own right?" he asked with pride clearly expecting the answer to come. "Smiling greatly "of course. You can count on me" the bluenette beamed ready to please unwilling to disappoint.

Tom smiled proudly at his daughter knowing she could handle closing up the shop on her own as he had a profound level of trust in his girl. So with that faith clearly reflected in the girl before him "alright then I will leave you and alya to it. You already know how to lock up and take take care of the leftovers, If you need anything or something happens you can call me. I think that's it so I will leave you in charge" the large man said proudly at his daughter's determination seeing the fire in her eyes. The girl stood up from her spot next to alya before walk up to her pa pa "don't worry I can handle this you go and deliver the order, I was taught by the best after all." she commented politely. While she loved how supportive her parents could be she had to admit it was annoying how much they would look over her shoulder every now and then. Like how her pa pa was telling her the same things he always did worrying about the shop. 'Now if only he knew I was ladybug and helped save the city'. But keeping that to herself she hugged her father and bid him farewell and politely escorted him out while he remembered a few more things to do before finally leaving.

After making sure her father left she roused alya from her seat much to her discontent as she complained about still being sore from working with her earlier. Despite the complaining with marinette in charge things wear moving along quickly. The stale was taken in back so that it could be picked up in the morning as a restaurant near by. Said restaurant made a deal with her parents for the stale bread as it's an important part in some cooking and often for soup and salads (it's true look it up.). The day old bread on the other had was placed into boxes to be sold at discount price while the extra left over would also get picked up by the homeless shelter. Lastly the display cases needed to be wiped down, the trays cleaned thoroughly,the counters cleaned off, the floors swept, the windows as well, and finally the money put in the safe in the back behind the false broken oven. The only other thing that needed doing was the door being locked and the light turned off.

"Snap!" went the switch as the light of the bakery shop area was closed and right on time to. As she switched off the light and closed the handle of the door while hearing alya grown in discomfort. Clearly she needed to learn that work was not all chasing interviews, editing and typing. Ignoring the red head however as she closed the door and walked past the girl into the kitchen area doing a sweep to make sure it was clean and ready for the morning. Meanwhile the alya simply grumbled about how hard and unreasonable the work was. Which just made the bluenette laugh internally 'she should see what it's like around christmas if she wants to see hard.' she thought remembering that they have to back everything times three around the holiday.

As she looked she began to worry about adrian as her ma ma had left some time ago and it was a little past six now. Which meant he only had tikki to watch him for nearly two hours. Thinking about the blond she began to wonder having finished her sweep of the kitchen and turning back towards alya. looking at the plaid who was now checking her phone for updates on her hits and reviews on her reporting no doubt. As she watched she began to contemplate bringing up adrain. While she had no intention of directly saying that he was here she was more interested in finding out what she thought of him.

So seeing this as just as good a time as ever to ask the girl who was just closing out of her phone. "Hay alya." she said gaining the girls attention as she turned her head sharply to see marinette. "Ya. what is it?" the plaid asked in return the the blue haired girl. Marinette however just took a short breath to steady herself before speaking being nervous about the subject matter "mind if I ask you something?". The redhead just smirked in amusement though at what it was hard to say. "Girl you got to get rid of that timide streak in you. You know better then anyone you can ask me anything,... SO! Ask away." she said finishing with dramatic pause for a low key effect making the bluenette grown internally at how she never took anything seriously. However she just had to push that aside and ask her question as if alya could be trusted she could be a great help in the future with adrian's care. So as she stood several feet away deciding to take a leap of faith with her question "what think about adrian?"

This question seemed to set the girl of almost immediately as her her entire demeanor changed. Her previously calm demeanor changed to a defensive one, her eyes turned to angry slits, and if one listened carefully you could even hear a distinctive angry growl come from her as well. "Girl. let me make one thing very clear. You need to get over that boy, him and his father are nothing but trouble." she said beginning one of her rants. Alya took a deep breath as she continued her rant "for that matter why do you even care about him any more? I get you had a crush on him but can't you see the devastation he and his father did to this city. Most of our school got akumatized do you have any idea what that's like? No you don't and you're lucky you don't know what it's like…." the stated in a huff raising her voice in irritation. Pausing only for a moment still keeping pase "At first you don't remember a thing but then you slowly remember things that you did while you were under. When the akuma comes for you it feels great your feel strong, But after a while hearing what comes out of your own mouth, Seeing your actions, Feeling so angry that's when you realize you're just a prisoner. No a puppet. Just a lame disposable puppet with no value…" she said trailing off closing her eyes looking away her voice clearly filled with venom and hate from old wounds. Making it plain to see talking much less just thinking about it was hard for the girl to bare.

Marinette was not happy, ok she expected alya to be a little upset still but this was a bit much and was about to say something to defend him. But before she could alya then looked back to marinette suddenly with a fierce and fiery gaze filled with darkness and spite. "Adrian and his father are monsters and deserve whatever they get for what they did to the city. What they did to our class. What it cased my family to go through. What he did to...me….to nino..."she said slowing down while as her tone lowering in volume as gilte began to raise in her closing her eyes gritting her teeth in mental pain. "Alya" marinette muttered torn between rage and sadness as she watched the woman. Alya then opened her eyes water plainly visible in them from unshed tears. "For… for what." she started struggling to get her words out properly trying not to get choked up. "For what I almost did to you marinette. My best friend and honestly practically my sister. When I was akumatized again by manon I went to your house if you wear there..." she admitted but did not finish and clearly it was hard for her to say. Though to be honest she was not technically there ladybug was but marinette was not.

The redhead clenched her fist tightly wiping away her tears from her eye's. Her body practically glowing with anger as nearly every muscle in her body tensed as if ready to fight. "Those two…" she started pushing for only a moment "those two deserve everything they get coming to them. After everything they did to us and to all of france. Looking down on us from there high and mighty mansion as they terrorized the city not knowing or even caring what we went through while they watched us suffer." alya's body began to tremble from muscle fatigue from clenching it so long. "So…" she began again slowly "I'm glad we seen the last of him and his father is locked up in prison, as those two monsters will never hurt us again!" the fire red finished her face an even darker shade than normal from rage, her eyes fixed and fierce, body as tense as a piano string as she tried to calm herself letting out all that she was containing for so long.

Marinette's gaze was pointed towards the floor her eyes darkened by her bangs covering her eyes leaving them dark. Marionettes body trembled slightly as if in a state of shock drawing the attention of a cooling off alya. "You alright girl?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice unsure as she noticed her strange behavior. Marinette then walked forwards towards alya before grabbing her arm and the wrist with an iron grip. "Hay what are you doing?" the girl cried out taken off guard by the bluenette as she began getting dragged away. Stumbling slightly as she was jerked forward walking awkwardly as she tried to remain upright. Groaning in discomfort "Girl what has gotten into you?" she asked but received no answer as marinette opened the back door to staircase to the upper level.

As the girls walked up the stairs (or dragged up) alya complained as they went up. Alya almost tripped casing her to yelp in alarm casing the bluenette to pushing for a second. This gave alya a chance to correct her balance "can we stop this already?" she asked but all she got was the red and back of marionettes shirt before she continued to bring her up the stairs. Ignoring the red head pleas and complaints seemingly uncaring or even noticing the plaids reaction to her strange behavior.

In truth however she was boiling with rage more so than ever before in her entire life. She knew that she was not thinking straight as she brought alya into there house, but rage had claimed her and prevented her from thinking rationally or of the potential consequences. Right now however...she didn't care. All she did care about was proving a point to show who the real victim was her mind all consumed by a single objective. That objective being showing alya what the truth of things was as she would not stand adrian being treated like poorly any longer. Maybe this was hasty and she should consider the risks as she now lead the plaid to the trap. However it was too late and the blinding rage that would one day manafest had her in its grip of power and recklessness.

Opening the trap while using holding her friend behind her with her enhanced strength leaving the plaid helpless to her power. Bringing the girl up the stairs she could faintly hear a startled cry from tikki but again ignored it having complete tunnel vision. Before finally pulling alya in front of her facing adrian "now tell me Is that the monster you think hurt us?!" pointing at the sick and red faced adrian who slept with his mouth open possibly to help him breath better. Letting go of alya she stepped to the side of the girl anger burning in the orbs of her soul as they gazed upon the dumbfounded girl. "Now tell me." marinette started barely getting a twitch from the girl who seemed frozen in place. But that did not matter as the bluenette continued "did he deserve nearly freezing to death in the rain in an alleyway?" she asked casing alya to jump slightly. Now whether or not it was from her tone or from what she said specifically was hard to say given her still shocked expression.

The pair stood there in silence as they both watched the boy in front of them as he slept soundlessly. Eventually however alya's head slowly turned to face marinette with a haunted looked. At first it appeared that she was not going to say anything but then "how long has he been here?". It was a simple question one that marinette answered "for a while now." she lied, but she needed to hammer home the point that he was a victim. At this point it was plain to see the anger starting to fade from both the girls. And at this point marinette began to realize what she had just done and started worrying what alya would do now that she knew that adrian was. As before today alya had a vested interested in finding adrian to...honestly she was not sure what she hoped to achieve in finding him. Alya was quiet again for several minutes making marinette worry that she was planning something that would put adrian in danger. When all of a sudden alya looked at her with wet eyes once again with unshed tears. What happened next greatly surprised marinette as when alya spoke she simply asked "How...how can I help?"

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

Sabine P.O.V

It was late the sun had set some time ago as sabine and tom walk up the stairs to their home. Tom on his way back from deliver a the cake he made to what turned out to be a surprise party. Found out that sabine was still at the store and decided to join her before driving them both back home. Once they arrived back and unloaded everything they got from the store tom went back downstairs to check on the store. While sabine put away the groceries and supplies for adrian. However soon after the mother took notice of how quiet it was before realizing the nether marinette or alya was in the house.

They girls wear not in the store downstairs and they clearly were not in the living room. But a second later she heard something or more likely someone walking around upstairs in marinettes room. It had to be said bluenette and given how marinette wouldn't risk adrian's safety that meant she had to be alone. "Alya must have gone home" she said out loud breathing a sigh of relief. given there were no police or reporters outside that meant alya didn't find out about adrian. Knowing her she would have reported it straight away upon seeing him.

So seeing as alya was gone and that marinette would most likely to feeling dejected watching over the boy. She decided it would be a good idea to ask if she wanted to help with dinner. It would also be a good chance to spend some quality time with her just mother and daughter. something that was in short supply these days with how busy she was. With that in mind she walked to the stairs that led to the trap door to ask the girl to join her in the kitchen. "Marinette would you mind helping me?" she asked while opening the trapdoor. "Marinette are you-" she began to ask again but stopped mid sentences in shock unable to believe what she saw. as sitting at the desk was alya and marinette. Marinette and alya on the other hand just stared back at her, marinette looked just as shocked as sabine wide eyes, while alya just maintained her usual pleased expression. After several awkwards moments alya looked between the mother daughter pair before saying "hay misses dupan-chang how's it going?". Alya who seemed unphased by the scene before her as she spoke catching both sabine and marinette off guard.

NO P.O.V

Sabine was unsure of what was going on as before leaving for the store both she and marinette wear doing whatever they could to keep alya out. And now the vary same girl they were trying to prevent from enter to hide adrian was now in the same room as him. Recovering from her intel shock she had one main question on her mind "marinette why is-" sabin started but was cut off by alya. Alya stood in between the pair in front of marinette "it's all right." she began. Alya then waited a moment before her and while she wanted to protest she could see it on the girl face, so deciding to waited and listen. Alya then put her hands down returning them to her hips before speaking, "marinette told me everything… she explained what happened with adrian and what condition he was when you found ...people treated him... While people bad mouth him and called him a….criminal, he was cowering inside an alley " she said with guilt with her later words. "So…" the started again "I just want to let you know that I have forgiven him,...and I won't be telling anyone about him, as far as my viewers are concerned adrian's not here...I- sigh- I'm sorry." she said looking away. It was clear to the her that alya felt immense shame as it was written over her face due to how she bad mouthed adrian these past few years...but it warmed her heart to see the girl seeking forgiveness finally.

The older woman smiled gently walking up to the read haired girl who continued to avert her gaze. 'Its unfortunate that things went this far, but at least now the girls will finally be able to get along without arguing about adrian.' she thought pleasantly, as that meant that she would not have to see her girl hurt from fighting with her best friend. She placed a tender hand upon the girl's shoulders surprising her casing before looking back at sabine. "I'm just glad everything has worked out" she admitted to alya, "and that adrian innocences is no longer in question".

It took several minutes as alya just stared speechless at the her surprise was on her face as she clearly was expecting reprimand for her actions. But sabine would not give any now she did not deserve any it was easy to see that the girl was simply distraught over being possessed. Sabine put her hand under the girl's chin beaming a smile the young woman. She was not blaming adrian out of spiti but rather just needed someone to blame and punish for what happened. A meek smile graced ayla lips "thank you…" the she said gratefully seemingly relieved to be freed from blame and forgiven. "You're most welcome" sabine said kindly understanding how hard it must have been for her.

With that done alya began to return to her seat in an exhausted manor mostly likely caused by relief. But looking back towards where adrian was resting and while his breathing still sounded raged it seemed far more even than it did. However that aside it reminded her as to part of the reason why she left earlier in the first place and needed to tell marinette. "Marinette." she said getting the young woman's attention along with alya. "Yes ma ma?" she asked in return wondering what she wanted and infected she began to wonder why she was in her room at all. Marinette did not have to wonder long however " unfortunately when i went to check on adrian earlier before leaving to the store. I was checked his teeth and they wear in poor condition. While I was at the store I got everything needed to clean them. However they will need to be cleaned later after dinner to make sure they don't start to rot." the mother said grimly.

It should have come as no surprise really adrian had been living on the streets four over three years now. And when they brought him home he was completely filthy for that matter. so it should be no surprise that his teeth wear in just as poor shape. And yet it was, as neither marinette or alya could suppress their genuine surprise and sympathy when they heard about it. It was heartbreaking realy, for the longest time adrian did literally anything to be noticed as not being gabriel's son just so people would see him for him. And not the stuck up son of a fashion designer like his father. And yet even then gabriel was bringing him down as people now say him as nothing more than a lowly criminal.

"Now then." she said regaining the girls attention "I need to get dinner started I can't imagine that your father will wait much longer when he is done down stairs." she said trying to inject some humor in the hollow atmosphere. "And Alya" she said making the read head stare in wonder. "Yes?" she asked worried she may have done something as a slight frown appeared. "you will join us for dinner won't you?" the mother asked politely. This surprised the girl as even though she was forgiven she still felt like she deserved reprimand for her earlier behavior. But she would receive none this night.

And in all honest it was a tempting offer as nino was out of town and would not be back for at least a few weeks. And she did not want to stop by her parents as they had to deal with her three younger sisters "yep got one more younger sister who turns three next february". And she had not made any plains with any of her other plans for tonight, plus it was a little late for that anyway, so… "sure I would be happy to join you." she replied with a bit of fire returning to her.

Sabine nodded approvingly to this "alright I will get started then." she said walking back towards the trap. As she walked down she stopped turning towards marinette and said "also marinette do not let me forget to get adrian's teeth brushed after dinner." she said. Marinette was about to answer when "wait miss dupan-chang." alya said gaining a curious look from both of the rooms other occupants. "Yes" the mother of one said confused by alyas sudden out burst. Alya bit her lip a bit her gaze shifting slightly away from sabine as if she was struggling to find the words to say. Then placing her hand near her chest "I would like to help adrian right now... if that's all right?" she said somewhat mekly. While it was slightly unusual for her to act like this it was likely due to her still feeling somewhat ashamed of herself as it was rare when she made such a grievous error, and she was probably still slightly shaken over the reveal. Sabine was quick surprised by this and it showed when she spoke "are you sure? As there is no reason to me and marinette can take care of it." she said showing her seem slightly hurt however by this for some reason. But was undeterred and protested "no I want to help. While your getting dinner ready me and marinette can take care of it". She then backed up to stand next to marinette before pulling the poor girl into a sudden hug casing her to yelp in surprise. Alya then gave a toothy smile that seemed somewhat forced "B.F.F remember. Right marinette?" she asked the now squished girl in her arm. Marinette just looked up to the girl then back to her mother before giving an awkward smile "sure." the girl said simply not unsure of what else to do.

Sabine seened unsure of this at first not of out suspicion but more out of concern for adrian's health. Checking her concern up to the mother hen side of her wanting to oversee everything pushed her worries aside. This was marinette she was talking about the girl would never to hurt the boy in any form. She would make sure he was treated like gold and would never do anything...questionable… .Infected she would dare to say that even after adrian woke up and got better she still wouldn't do anything questionable

After about a minute of silence save for marinette protests of discomfort followed followed by her release the mother gave her replay. "Well allright. If your sure." she said still not fully convinced however. Alya just nodded before saying "don't worry, I'm sure…" then her face hardened slightly in determination "I want to." she finish. Sabin and marinette however was unsure if she was saying that to assure them or herself though. But in the end. "Allright. If you really want to do it that's fine." she answered to the girl. "If you two want to get some towels and some water read I will get you then things I picked up for adrian". Marinette nodded to her mother before saying "sure no problem." to her mother. Then the blue bell looked up to wear adrian could be heard sleeping then back to her mother "we will have him looking much better when we're done." she assured. "Alright then. The mother started "I will be right back with what you need then." she said before finally ending below back into the living room.

After sabine left maingrette looked at alya who had yet to move after finally freeing her from her grip. Looking at her with a slight frown of concern wondering why alya had taken such a sudden interest in help adrian. She was not complaining but it was still odd. She knew that alya felt immensely guilty for what she did but even still.. "Hay alya." she said gaining the girls attention. "Him?" she sounded with a hum as a response. Marinette taking this as her answer continued "are you sure you're alright?" she asked. Alya however in usual fashion hid her true feelings with a foxy smile. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be." she said disregard to her friend's concern. Marinette was not convinced, but with nothing more to go on decided against pursuing it any further. As she just a curt replay before getting some supplies from the bathroom.

 **(A.N I'll admit I don't feel very strongly about this last section and I may have to redo parts of this later.)**

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After sabine what needed to be done to care for adrian without inadvertently hurting him. She gave them the items they would need to help care for him from an number of things she got that would be used in the future. And this was where the two wear now Marinette and alya wear sitting on either side of adrian head, alya being on the boys left and marinette of his right with the items the needed laid out before them. They had a child soft toothbrush as to not hurt his gums or teeth in their current state, child friendly toothpaste for sensitive teeth for the same reason as the brush, unfortunately as for as they knew there was no product for people with potentially bad teeth so regular floss would have to do. They also had a dental mirror which would come in handy, lastly lots of water and a number of towels which they wear unfortunately going to need.

Marinette started by placing a towel underneath adrian's head and neck to keep her bed dry from the inevitable spills. Once done she went to reach for the toothbrush when alya stopped her taking the brush in hand instead. Confused by this looking at the plaid with a look to match upon her face. Alya just held a somber look as she answered the unspoken question "let me…it's the least I can do after everything i've said." she admitted. Marinette however just looked at the girl speechless for a minute. Alya seemed really adamant about doing this clearly feeling guilty for all the mean things she said about him. And she was half tempted to tell her she had it covered as she would have to do this daily anyway. But the look on her face told her that she truly wanted to make amends.

Marinette could see that alya really wanted to do this as a way of seeking forgiveness from adrian for how she treated him. so sighing in defeat she pulled back her hand "alright alya sure go ahead." she answered to the girl. Ayla nodded back before giving the bluenette her thanks in replay. To be honest it was quite a surprise that alya was going this far out of her way to help adrian thinking back to their argument. When nino came to get alya to leave while she was ranting about adrian nino said nothing, absolutely nothing, instead simply guided alya home. Now this was very odd for nino as marinette knew that both he and adrian wear best friends like her and alya. But it was not till later that she found out that the reason why nino was not defending adrian was not because he didn't care, It was because he did care. Nino knew that alya was not blaming adrian out of anger rather out of frustration.

After nino escorted alya back to there place nino kept in touch with marinette so that she knew what was going on with the girl. He informed her that she had been acting strange after the fight saying that she would forget things, miss meetings with interviews, and one time almost posted the wrong report on the lady blog instead of on her column at the news channel. In the end the girl just was not the same after their argument And from what nino was telling her apparently alya off her game in the weeks leading up to the fight. As apparently she had been waking up with nightmares of herself terrorizing the city as lady wi fi. One time nino even said that she woke up only to have people run from her or out right attack her on sight. Only to look in the mirror it see lady wifi looking back at her. In fact apparently it got so bad that she was even snapping at nino prior to their argument due to lack of sleep and stress. Though she did had to credit the girl though for her facade. In the end the fight they had over adrian was bound to happen sooner or later.

Once marinette was done with the towel she looked up to see that alya was ready to do her part in it. Looking up to the red head expectantly after a moment alya looked back before giving a brief nod. So deciding to get started went to open the boys mouth. Placing her right hand on his jaw and her right on his upper jaw before prying his mouth and playing his lips back. Almost immediately both girl reeled back a bit from the odder. It smelled of rot and decay. Looking at the boys moth it was easy to see why as his teeth wear covered in bits of black and green along with his gums. Marinette's nose wrinkled in disgust, looking at alya seeing her reaction she was not doing much better. Honestly if not for the serious ness of it all it would look rather funny. But it was serious and it wasn't funny.

Looking up to alyas face again she just gave a reassuring smile before bringing the brush to the boys mouth. At first she was hesitant doing very short, slow, deliberate brushes being extremely cautious. But as time slowly past and she continued her brush technique normalized beginning to work much faster only occasionally asking marinette to move adrian's head a bit now and then. While watching alya work she took stock of the current condition current. Though the blue bell had to admit while it was bad the level of decay it did not look as bad as she feared. as his teeth while needing to be cleaned wear still recognisable as teeth and still had traces of white in them. This was good it meant that they wear still salvageable. However that did not mean it wouldn't take a lot of work to get them back to wear they needed to be.

After a while as the pair worked adrian's teeth slowly but surely began to show as alya managed to remove more and more material. Granted she had to clean the brush several times due to the amount of material removed. But as she worked and finished the front row and begin the back row it became necessary to make use of the dental mirror. Going back and forth between brushing and checking with the mirror alya. In the end work was slow as the girls tired to clean adrian's teeth best they could with minor spills happening now and then. aside from idle chat or alya asking to move there was mostly silence between them.

While it took a while to get the job done after about half an hour adrian's teeth wear clean leaving then, eh while no white they wear clean. Once they wear finished they cleaned up the mess they made disposing of the now dirty water and wet towels. Then marinette finished by cleaning up adrian as they made him a bit wet and dirty as well. Finished with there work say them sitting on a set of chairs at marionettes desk as sabine had yet to finish with dinner.

They wear silent for a time, alya because while she was glad to be forgiven but still felt immense guilt for her actions, marinette was quite due to not knowing what to say to her friend to reassure her. So they simply sat there in silence with only adrian breathing being heard in the background. Which on that adrian most likely due to tikki had already made a miraculous recovery no joke intended. While he still had a long way to go it was a good sign. Thinking about marinette would have to remember to thank tikki for her help when this was all over. Looking back over to alya she could not help but frown slightly. But then the blue bell remembered something from earlier. "Alya didn't you say that you had something you wanted to show me?" she asked hoping that would get the alya she knew back in full.

"Him? She hummed out looking up in confusion for a moment then her eyes widened in remembrance. "Oh ya. With everything going on I. hang on one second…" she stammered out quickly getting up and putting a hand in her pocket. Then after checking all her pockets pulled out what looked like a small red flash drive. "Here it is" she exclaimed out loud waving around the small portable chip. (Yupe alya was back. She's too excited to be depressed.). As the red held up the portable drive marinette could not help but be a bit confused by it, namely what was so special about it. Clearly there was something on it of importance to alya, but that told her nothing about what was actually on it merely the value of its contents. Sighing in defeat she asked the question she knew alya was waiting for "Ok what's so special about the flash drive?" shed asked sarcastically. The other girl just ignored her sarcasm though "oh you will see. Move over." she said motioning with her empty hand for her to move away from the computer.

Doing as instructed marinette slide her chair on wheels away from the computer giving enough room for the red to reach it. Once done alya immediately set to work waking up the computer only pausing in step long enough for marinette to unlock the computer (hay as ladybug you can never be too careful.) unlocked the girl set about her work opening the document viewer before looking for the flash drive on the file browser. It did not take long to find it clicking on it opening it up then sifting through the list of files. And what a list it was. There must have been at least a hundred files of the flash drive making marinette wonder how on earth she could find anything. She could barely find her own files and patterns on her computer then they wear in smaller files. However alya was a women on a mission with laser guided precision and within seconds found the file she was looking for. "And found it." she said picking a specific file. Having clicked the file the screen when dark and marinette was going to ask what happened when…

It was a single picture and not just any picture it was the picture of their class the day that reflekta attacked. Then a few seconds later the picture of one of her old classmates appeared from the school days. Then showed what they looked like now before showing information on them and there life after school before going on the the next person, and the next and the next. Nearly speechless as name after name of their class scrolled "What is this?" was all marinette could honestly say unsure of what to make of all this. Looking up at alya all you could see was her cheshire smile "like it?" the girl said smugly. "It's the secret project i've been working on the past few months." she said pulling her seat up to sit back down. Marinette was still a bit lost however at what she was seeing. She knew what it was but not why alya made it.

Alya though seeing marinettes intel confusion was all too eager to share "it's a time capsule slide show… think of it this way it's basicly a video in slide format that shows what we wear like during school and what we are like now." she explained quickly. This however did not answer marinette question however. " alya I know what it is. What I want to know is why you make it?" she finished asking the red. Alya did not answer right away making marinette think she may have accidently offended her. She did not mean to do so but could not keep her tone in check.

Alya however was far from offended just thinking. "Well. you see…" she started slowly looking up to nothing in particular in though then after a long pause answered. "See the thing about a year ago I was with nino at one of his gigs helping out when I met up with a bunch of are old class mates." she started of simply enough. This did take marinette slightly off guard as she had been to several on nino's shows but never saw more than one or two people from their class. And come to think of it she rarely saw anyone from there school anymore minus nini and alya unless then came in the shop. But stopped this train of thought as she continued to listen "so this got me thinking after school let out for the final time we all pretty much went our separate ways with only a few of us staying in contact" she continued as she stopped the video. "So with that in mind I thought that I would do something about it. Me and nino have been planning a party of sorts kind of like a reunion but a bit different this would be more like a way for are class to have one final day of fun as fellow members of our class. Nino would work on the venue as he has a few favors he needs cashed for performing. While I would work on coordination for the event. And with sabines help we made this video" she said tapping the flash drive as she pulled it out of the computer. "To act as are invitations to the event. Though mind you there not quite finished yet." alya confessed sheepishly as she finished her story.

Marinette was by far as impressed as she was speechless from hearing the girls tail. To think that she had been working on something like this for so long plaining basicly what amounted to a alya style reunion for their class was something. And it did make her wonder. However… that still left someone else. Thinking bitterly as she looked up at her bed and while she could not see him knew he was there. "Ya I guess there's that." she heard alya say looking back at said girl noticed she had followed her gaze towards adrian. And alya while saying little in that statement said volumes as both knew what it meant. Adrian was as alya had though a few hours earlier still a criminal in there eye's. Meaning that setting up such an event would mean that adrian couldn't go. Thinking about as much as she would love attened she could never do that with clean heart knowing adrian would be unable to. 'What can we do? They will never accepted adrian after what happened.' the blue bell thought hopelessly

These thoughts probably many more had quickly turn the once happy mood sour again as they wear back to square one. Though thinking about the blond reminded her of another blonde she knew of and had not seen in awhile. "Hay alya?" she said drawing the red back to reality. "ya ." she said simply in reply. Marinette seeing as she had her attention asked her question "your well informed about what happens in paris right?" she asked to make sure she was on the same page. Alya this time actually looked insulted by this question "girl of course I have the dig on everything that goes on in this city how do you think I keep up with ladybug year round." she stated proudly. 'Ok good point' marinette thought internally at that remark but continued with her point nonetheless. "I didn't mean to sound rude but I was wondering If you've heard anything about chol'e recently? She asked somewhat meekly near the end. And in all honestly she was not sure why she wanted to know about the girl quite frankly she considered them to still be enemies after the whole adrian tibogle, but all the same she still had the nagging urge to know how the female blond was doing.

Alya just stared at her as though her hair changed color in front of her. Most likely trying to judge if she was serious or not as she also knew they got along about as well as gasoline and a match. So seeing her asking about it must have been very strange for ayla to see. But after a after a minute of seeing the same expectant look on marinette face she could tell the girl was not joking and was genuinely curious.

Giving a lazy shrug as if in an effort to say whatever "no much girl" alya started. This got marinettes attention as there was honestly very few times when she was not well informed. And she made an effort to express this. "What do you mean alya? Surely you know something about her. I mean there's hardly anything you don't know about everyone in are old class." while alya's lips tugged at the corners a bit taking the bluebells words as a compliment. She also could not hide her frustration as well. "Sighing in defeat she explained. "I mean there's nothing to tell. My sources tell me that she doesn't get out much. If at all." she explained.

This was vary surprising to marinette as last time she met the blond girl she could hardly keep her phone down. And ya sure she had heard the rumors that a lot of people hated her after the whole hawk moth mess...but still the girl just loved conflict to much to not case trouble. While true she had heard that she did not get out too often from the fall out. However that was three years ago. So wanting more information she motioned for ayla to continued.

Seeing this alya leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts before opening them and speaking. "See thing is after the whole hawk moth thing went down and people started to point blame at chole...things kinda went downhill from there. Remember how she stopped going to school a month or so after hawky was arrested?". Marinette thought about alya question a moment in though. And thinking about it she did remember chol'e leaving school a short while after gabrials arest. But honestly she thought she had merely gone to one of those high end private schools she had been talking about a lot. While not remembering which one she did remember that much. She also remembered the blond girl trying to talk adrian into going to one with her.

"Yes I remember" she answered back to the blogger who continued wear she left off not skipping a beat. "Well heres what happened after that her father locked her inside their home in the hotel to protect her. And after a while with a few close calls mixed in she shut herself in her room and apparently never left". This cased marinettes eyes to go wide as frisbys at this news. "Anyway after that happened information on her goes cold. there's no calls, no orders, no information, Nothing. Heck even that internet page she updated during class hasn't had activity on it in almost two and a half years. She is officially off the grid. Some people even wonder if she is even still alive or if she offed herself and her father is covering it up. The staff at the hotel won't even say anything about it." alya said finally with her frown deepening. Alya was a girl of the modern age who wanted all the information there was on something so to have basically no information on something was troubling to her.

Marinette on the other hand was extremely troubled by this information a deep frown on her face in worry at the implications on alya's information. From that she had just said that meant that for a little over two years chole had been shunned like adrian. And while she deserved punishment this was not what she had in mind. This meant that even three years after gabriel's arrest people were still suffering because of his actions. And the ripples from those actions wear still haunting people like ghosts. "Adrian, Alya, chol'e, All the akuma vicems, the families of the victims. Most of the city, The actions of one man even so long after was still hurting people even now.

"I wonder if it was worth it." she muttered to herself in disgust at how one man could be so foul to an entire city seemingly without remorse. "You say something girl?" alya asked casing marinette to look up slightly taken aback. "Oh sorry I was just thinking…" she said half heartedly. Alya was not convinced however leaning forwards and marinette knew she would press till she got information out of her. Sighing in defeat she spilled "I was just wondering if all this damage was that he wanted. And if so was it worth casing so many people to suffer. Including his own son." she confessed painfully at the thought.

Alya looked at her sympathetically clearly she knew that this was hurting her and after the adrian reveil maybe even a little of what it felt like. But sympathy was not what the blue bell needed right now, she needed wholehearted honesty and the reality. "Girl let me tell you only hawky knows that info and they have been trying to crack that nut scenes they threw away the key on him. And I don't think anyone is going to force it out of him ether. Infacted a dare say that the only people her may talk to is adrian for obvious reasons (reasonable she taught) and ladybug. But ladybug has yet to visit hawky so there's no way to know." she finished slightly defeated as it was yet another blow to her profession as an information gatherer.

But unknown to alya her words did have an effect that would change things. "Then maybe it's time that ladybug did visit him." she said absentmindedly. This however got alya's eyebrows to rais in interest "what's that now girl?" she asked curious. "Oh nothing! Nothing at all." she responded realizing her mistake too late. Thankfully for marinette before alya could press they both heard a knock on the trap door. "Girls! Dinners ready. Come down and eat before it gets cold." Sabine said opening the door to see the pair. "Coming" marinette said quickly getting up and moving towards the trap not giving alya a chance to respond. "Uh hay! Wait1" alya said behind the blue bell as she too followed the mother downstairs to dinner leaving the blond to sleep in peace.

This left only tikki who had watched the whole scene unfold with heightened interest especially near the end. "Looks like things are going to get busy again." she commented sensing some ladybug action in the near future.

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Meanwhile else wear

In a dark room only illuminated by moonlight was a single calendar with red x's crossing off the days with a single circled day on the page. A hand came out from the darkness with a red pen in hand to x out another day on the sheet. Before pulling back in the the dark void. A smirk of amusement could be heard being made in the blackness. Then in a dark tone "soon. Very soon. It won't be long now." the voice said evilly before steps could be heard walking away.

 **OH my dark finish there. Was that ever a long one I dare say the longest too. Well for those who don't like long chapters and those that do I further chapter should not be longer and that this chapter will be the longest in a while. So If you wear hoping for more. Sorry. And again I do apologise for how long this took I truly am sorry. I wanted this chapter out over a week ago but as you know that did not happen so again sorry. Ok so now that wear at the end it's time to thank you all for sticking around this long and reading to the end. I also encourage you to leave a review as your words are what push me to type. And hope you enjoyed. Also the next chapter is a bit of a short one just a heads up and you will find out why soon enough**


	7. Chapter V caged moth

**Ok everyone sorry for the long wait I wanted this chapter out some time ago but unfortunately I got a new video game that slowed me down. Plus a convention to prepare for as well which did not make things any easier. And in a couple of screw ups and some depression and well you get the idea. Well this chapter is done longer then I thought I wanted it but the more I typed the more it made sense to add more. I hope this chapter is what people wear hoping for as this one will herald the coming of more of the plot and push it along. There will be lots of elements for future chapters teased in this one so look forward to that and I hope all of you like my take on ladybugs new look. I will admit it needs some refinement and I'm not that great of an artist so I won't draw a visual aid but if someone else wants to they can. Other then that I think that's all the pre chapter info you all need so leave a fav, follow or review sit back relax and enjoy the show….ok technically it's an Ebook but you get my point.**

Chapter 5 caged hawk.

It was early afternoon ladybug could tell from the way the sun hit her face. She was currently facing a stone wall in a corner waiting for someone. Now one might ask what the parisian luck charm was doing facing a wall in a building surrounded by brick walls. When if she was to be honest should be at home with tiki staying in close proximity to adrian. But right now she had a job to do whether she liked it or not she had to do this. As for how she was able to be here without worrying about adrian that's a bit harder to explain. See last nigh...

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The previous evening.

It was late at night in the dupan-chang residence alya had already gone home for the night and her parents wear getting ready for bed. Marinette was sitting at her desk with tikki discussing something intently staying away from adrian as not to make too much noise. "Tikki I need to do this." marinette said to her kwami partner with shakened determination. While it was clear that she wanted to do something it was not with true resolve. Tikki however unsurprisingly was unconvinced by marinette words and it showed "marinette you have nothing to prove. All you would do is confirm what we already know." she said in her usual high pitched voice.

Marinette just groaned loudly pushing away from the desk irritated. "Tikki don't you think I know that." she answered back surprising the kwami at her brashness. Marinette sight putting a hand up to cover her eye's. Both the spirit and girl wear quite for a few moments before marinette lowered her hand looking back down to her partner seemingly calmed down slightly. "Tikki am sure we won't get anything out of it." she said getting a look of equal surprise and confusion. "Look tikki I don't expect to get an information we don't already know. I want to do it so I can face my fears.". Tikki's eyes widened slightly as for as long as she has know she never new marinette to admit her fears. Much less show them. She had been the pinnacle of courage for as long as they have been partners. Her only fault was her lack of confidence in the beginning which subsided over time. Now she was in her mind all but fearless like joan of arc.

Marinette seeing the intel confused look could not help but smile weakly at the energetic red ball of magic. "Tikki ever since that first day as ladybug I have been afraid of so many things. While most of those fears are gone now. There is still one fear I need to face for myself. And I need to do it as ladybug not marinette." she said with a bit more fire this time.

Quite come over the pair again as the seemed to have a proverbial staring contest of sorts. However after several long seconds. Tikki closed her eye's with a sigh "I understand" she said returning a gaze with a look of understanding. Clearly tikki herself had experienced similar trials in her past and realized that marinette needed to face her demons on her own instead of hiding from them. "Huh! Allright marinette I understand." the red spirit said much to the girls surprise. "Just know I will support you and your dission." the little spirit said quietly. It was clear that she did not think that is was such a good idea, but there were somethings you just had to do for better or for worse. And this was one of those things that just had to be done and all the spirit could do was watch over her.

Marinette was thankful that tikki relented in her act to sway her from going. 'But, that still leaves one problem.'. Looking up at her bed she could still see hear adrian's rough breathing. And even wit tikkis help it would take days or even weeks. That said she could not risk leaving adrian without magic healing encase he took a turn for the worse. And even if she did she had no idea how long it could take to do what she needed to and how long the residual magic would last. This left the poor girl scratching her head not knowing what to do.

However it was the kwami who had the answer to that already however before she gave the answer marinette needed she was going to take this chance to tease the poor girl a bit. "let me guess you want me to stay to heal adrian but you also need use ladybugs powers. Am I right?" this cased marinette cheeks to flare red with embarrassment. Tikki let out a humorous chuckle at the expression on her face "so I was right.". The spirit was very amused by marinettes reaction as no matter how long they stayed together one thing that never changed was how easy it was too embarrassed her. Something that the little kwami learned secretly from watching her parents embarrassing the girl. Laughing slightly more as she tried to regain her composure "don't worry marinette I already have a plan to help you do both" the spirit stated.

Hearing tikki say that she had a plan to both go out as ladybug and keep healing link with magic. "Ah-uh-how?" she uttered out quite stupidly but she could not help it as to her knowledge tikki could not be in two places at once. Much less use her powers in two places at once. "Its simple really. All you have to do is make a luck charm and give it my power." the little kwami answered making the bluebells eyes go wide with astonishment.

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Back at present time

As it turned out tikki had a number of power that she could do that she hand never even tried before. The one power in particular that tikki said they should use to give adrian good luck till they got back was the lucky charm ability. And while she did not understand everything. In essence it worked like this basically you take an object that the receiver wears on there person a necklace, a ring, a scarf. Anything that the receiver would were on them all the time as their charm require physical contact with the skin to work for some reason 'even tikki did not know why". Once the item was chosen all she had to do was take in both hand clasped and give it power like she does when using lucky charm. Accepted instead of creating an object she is instead making one more powerful.

Now as powerful as this ability was there was one catch that could not be avoided. The item given to the receiver had to be hand made by the giver. That meant that marinette could not just empower something and walk away she had to make something. There was also a second hurdle she had to deal with. Not only did it have to be handmade it had to as tikki put it be "made to wear with love and care". Obvious poetry aside it meant that it had to be made with the intent of the wear wearing all the time unless the wear decided to take it off on their own. When asked why did just said "marinette you're not strong enough to just make an object and empower it. When you make something you give a piece of yourself in the process giving it a piece of your power in the process. But that's not enough it has to be made with love and care. As you know already from dark cupid love is more powerful than the strongest of dark magics. The charm you make has to be made this way. Even though through constant use of your powers over the years has increased the amount of your magic power you still don't know how to use it"

In the end this left her with few options on what to due left. So last night and this morning she took the time to craft a fine necklace for adrian which he was hopefully still wearing. The only catch is she would have to re empower it almost daily if she needed to leave for some reason as like tikki said "you don't know how to use your powers properly only reason she did not learn basicly any of them outside of the basics and passive ones every ladybug gets was because she did not make time to learn them, which she was sorely starting to regret now. When she thought about it was a real opportunity lost. As had she and cat noir had taken the time to learn and explore the full depths of their powers. Rather than just winging it all the time. Who knows. They might have even been able to beat hawk- no gabrel agrest sooner and prevent so many people from having to suffer under his power. Though if nothing else she at least did not have to worry about tiring herself out due to how much magic she had built up. The one advantage to stockpiling magic unknowingly and not using any of it. It meant she had more of it later to play with.

"BUZZ!"

The sound of an electric lock releasing got her attention but before she could even move. "Well,well,well. This is quite the surprise." a monotone voice rang out behind her and immediately she knew who it was. "Gabriel agrest." she said turning around to face the man who had hurt paris, her city mercilessly. The vary person who had tried to take her kwami and miraculous away. The man who had nearly killed both her and cat noir. The man who spread fear like a cold wind across her home. The man her knowingly hurt his own son...the man formerly known as hawk moth was standing before her.

Setting this meeting up had been far easier than she thought as when she asked chief Raincomprix. Yes he got promoted again for his service and is now in charge of running the whole department. But when asked it took less then ten minutes for people to agree to this meeting. Apparently no could get anything out of the man and even using truth serum his lips wear locked. Infected when they brought in a professional military interrogator apparently he gave up after a few days as apparently gabriel would die before he let anything slip. So when she approached and asked they though he may let slip some information in the presence of his worst enemy. And though all parties herself included believed it was unlikely it was worth a try at least.

Gabrie on the other hand had not changed much in three years the aside from the bright orange suit and the chains he look mostly the same as he did before. The only real difference was his glasses looked newer and his hair was combed back as opposed to his usual hair style. Other than that though he looked basically the same. Including his smug look of superiority. One thing that she was positive that had not changed was his attitude, the bad kind. And that attitude showed in full when he spoke. "You know." the man started as the security guard led him to a chair next to a table. "When the warden said I had a guest that I would not to see I almost did not believe him. I am glad now I considered entertaining my guest not though...as who would have thought that the might ladybug herself would be her in person to speak with me." the aged man with an almost pleased tone as the guard forced him to sit before locking the chains to the floor with a loud click.

Hearing the click nearly made her finch starting realizing how serious the whole situation was now. Gabriel seemed to notice almost smugly "Oh don't worry about this." he said motioning as best he could being bound to the floor. "The warden insisted that I be bound in chains and a straight jacket every time I am let out of my cell. Then bound to the floor by another set of chains. I even wear handcuffs in my cell .Honestly I am slightly surprised that someone has not questioned the activating as cruel and unusual. But then again I don't think anyone really cares. In fact the only reason I'm not in a jacket is because they said my guest could handle themselves. Clearly he was right." It was painfully clear that gabriel was enjoying himself if that wear possible.

Once the guard was finished making sure gabriel could not go anywhere looked at ladybug. She gave a nodded receiving one back before the guard left locking the door behind him. She knew that there was probably a full swat team ready incases he tried something. While it may seem over kill if it wear true she even admitted to the court that she was unsure of the full depth of his powers even without the broch. And when the judge asked why that was she confessed that it had been century's since a person had welded the butterfly brooch and a lot of the information about it had been lost. Poor norro even said that she was unsure what she could do her memory being a bit fickle from being corrupted after being asleep for so long.

Ladybug steeled herself shedding the nervus skin and putting a steeled expression on her face. Grunting ertible to make herself sound tough she spoke "I see you haven't changed much. You still act like you're better than everyone." she said an air of confidence about her. Gabriel just smirked amused "I'll admit that over confidence was one of my mistakes that lead to my capture. Though I do have a superior mind to most." he stated boldly obviously still thinking himself better making ladybug grown. "Though that said." gabriel started making her look at him lery "you seemed to have changed quite greatly since last I seen you. Ornamental chinese dress combined with french night wear I take it. An odd mix but it seems to work." he commented offhandedly.

While most would likely brush off his comment as a passing remark to throw her off her game, he was absolutely right she had changed greatly. Over the years of being ladybug her outfit changed with her. And not just in size or shape to accommodate her growing frame but a complete makeover. Her new appearance was quite different gone was the old suite and in with something far more elegant. Her new outfit was somewhat of a cross between a french cavalry armor and a traditional chinese style dress. Which was fitting.

The top was like a single pull over dress that went to above her knees with a slit going from her upper thigh to her the end, and a tight fidgeting neck like her old one. It had the traditional ladybug spots on the front but had a black back starting at her neck and shoulder going to the small on her back. As well as what looked like an armored breastplate in front. The new suit had no sleeves but rather what looked like long gloves to replace them with two armored parts on her wrist and elbow. On the shoulders themselves wear protective dome shaped pauldron similar to what joan of arc had on hers to coent the gloves to the main suit. Around her waist was a red ribbon style belt which if it wear a real dress would be use to keep her cloths tight around her waist. But it was magic so it was mostly there for appearances. As for her bottom part from the feet up to the knees wear solid black with what looked like streamlined armored segments on top with two pieces of armour on the left and right parts of her thighs. And as her footwear unlike most comic book heroines who wore high heels Marinette was not most people as she had viewed high heels like carrying a large metal pole in a lightning storm. Instead she had more simple chinese style slippers combined french armoured caps like on cavalry to finish off the dress itself.

Lastly wear the accessories that she had added to her look over the years. Not of course she still had her earrings and that was unlikely to change but these wear much different. the first that had changed was the addition of a chinese/french style tiara on her forehead. The second being the addition of another yo-yo. The third and the one people noticed the first was what looked to be a large red and black spotted billowy scarf tied around her neck that went down to her knees.

When she began to notice those changes and questioned tikki about it tikki said that it was not very surprising as the outfit changes with the wearer wants, likes, personality, and what they view as heroic. In short her first out fit was a skin tight onesie because that what she perceived to be a hero. When marinette was young she was never into the super hero stores and heroes in general. So when she first became ladybug and the idea of being a hero her mind went to the hero's she did sorta know from the movies. Now she was more or less doing her own thing as far as looks went as she was going with more traditional chinese inspired clothing in line with her mother's side. With some flares from french history as well taking some inspiration from joan of arc the one hero she did admire even before finding out she was a fellow ladybug.

"Truly much more appealing to the eyes then your old uniform." the incarcerated man said "though I will admit the color is too striking to the point of being painful and the scarf is too long." he finished unable to not criticize her in some fashion. Ladybugs frown then dropped even further 'just wait till he sees what I can do with these scarfs and will see if there too long.' she thought venomously. However even with as much as she hated this man she had to keep her temper in check, and with as much as she wanted to use one of her yo-yo's to strangle him she had to remain calm. "Just because my outfit changed does not change why I am hear gabriel...or do you prefer hawkmoth instead?" ladybug questioned with her most commanding voice. The voice that she had been practicing for moments just like this.

Gabriel on the other hand seemed to be ineffective as he spoke in his usual monotone voice. "You can call me hawkmoth if you insist, but I prefer my actual name. I only ever used that ridiculous code name out of necessity. If not for the fact that I needed to keep a secret identity to prevent a situation like this I would have forgone the childish name all together." he finished talking answering the question in over analytical fashion. While she was greatly annoyed by the way he talked down to like she was a small child. What he said did make scene as if you did not have to worry about secret identity's why would you pretend to be someone else in the first place. Be sides gabriel did not seem the type to enjoy theatrics much less flashy names and looks. If he could have gotten away with going as just gabriel he probably would have.

"However" the man starting gaining her attention "i sure we both know you did not come all this way just to ask me about my name. So if you please I would like you to get on with it." the waite haired man demanded sounding polite. She knew very well that he did not mean to be polite it was simple a facade he had out of habit. That aside however she new he was right as she had an important question to ask. Gabriel seemed to scenes this as well as he was the first to bring it up. "Now if you don't mind if we dispense with the pleasantries and got down to business." he stated plainly clearly starting to grow bored as the novelty of this visit was starting to wain.

Ladybug feeling a slight tremble within took a single deep breath to steady herself before approaching the table. Pulling the chair back she took a seat in front of gabriel, she could feel her fear insider herself as she looked at the man who had done so much evil. But she remained calm and did her best to ignore her fears not allowing her gaze to slip. She had let her fears of this man rule over her for too long it was time that it all ended. This was an ordinary person just like her who got ahold of a magic artifact, also just like her. The only difference was how they used these powers she used them for good he used his for evil. Other then that there was no difference between them as they both wear just people. So feeling her fears eb she took one more deep breath then said "I just have one question.". She paused after saying this and almost immediately gabriel raised an eyebrow clearly expecting something else. "Go on." he encouraged his curiosity peaked at the one person he could never out match. Ladybug seeing this chance and feeling tikki's encouragement in the back of her mind just answered by asking "was it worth it?"

This question hung in the air like dense fog as both occupants of the room wear quieted. Gabriel seemed to have been taken off guard confirming ladybugs hunch a minute ago. This was further confirmed when the man before her spoke. "Well now, out of all the thing you could ask me this was by far one that I did not expect." he admitted seeming to be genuinely surprised by this question. "Was it worth it? Now that is a good question." he mused making ladybug start to lose patience with him. "Him?" he hummed loudly as if genuinely in thought and while it was hard to tell he seemed on the surface to actual consider this question. "Was it worth it" he started again casing ladybug to suppress a groan "i would say given the circumstances my arrest aside I would say that it was very much worth it. My only complaint is that I did not finish my goals." the white haired man stated plainly as reading the morning paper.

While it did not show on her face one thing she had improved she was greatly surprised by his answer. While internally she was greatly shocked as, ok she half expected him being the narcissist he is to think all his actions to be righteous and worth it. But what she did not expect was for him to only complain about being caught. It meant he had no remorse over his action. "So you don't care that hundreds or even thousands of people suffered on account of your actions?" she asked her bitterness and anger rising with inher. The waite haired man just scoffed un concerned. "Please the city would never have had to suffer in the first place if that old fool had just given me the miraculous when i found him the first time I would not have had to resort to such extreme measures. But alas that man had to go into hiding forcing my hand to drag him out. And then you extend the city's suffering. It all would have been quite painless if you had just given hem to me so I could achieve me end and moved on" he stated coldly.

Ladybug just could not believe him not only did he not feel remorse or concern for his actions he was blaming others for his own evil by not giving into him. "You're despicable" she said venomously truly despising this man now the reason of her fear for him being forgotten. However gabriel did not even seem phased or insulted just irritated. "Please. I am far from despicable If I had just gotten the miraculous no one would have had to have gotten hurt and I would have achieved my goals with ease...but no I was forced to drag things out of necessity for your ignorance. But had I succeeded the people suffering would not have been in vain for their troubles would have lead to greatness. As once I had the miraculous I would had done what I had set out to do years ago and no one would have ever had to hear the name hawkmoth again."

The man gabriel finally finished his mini rant and even no she could feel the anger bubble up inside of her. While normally even before she became ladybug she frowned upon such senseless things. This time she had to make an exception, as not only was he blaming others for his actions but he was also trying to justify his actions by making a murder of her own people by making sound like he was going to save humanity or something. And in reality it was all for his selfish goals. However that brought up another topic that needed addressing, "so what exactly was your goal?" she asked unable to bite back the anger in her voice. Gabriel only looked smug not irritated or pretending he seemed genuinely amused by the fact that only he knew something that everyone else wanted to know. "Wouldn't you like to know miss ladybug. But alas that is something you are going to have to figure out for yourself." he admitted humorously to ladybug making her grown in irritation. "But." he started getting ladybugs attention "i will give you a hint seeing as you have given me an ample distraction today. "And your hint is that had I gotten yours and cat noirs miraculous it would have given me the ability to to change everything." gabriel gained a dangerous glint in his eyes when he spoke that made ladybug internally shiver. And to add to that fact was the dangerous look he gave her as he eyed the miraculous in her ears greedily. This left a very dangerous and tense gape of silence between the pair of hero and villain.

As quickly as gabriel's change in demeanor took place it returned to normal and he returned to his usual high and mighty stance. "That being said." he started up again after their stand off "how has your partner been I don't hear about him much anymore from the criminals her.". Ladybug had to suppress a scoff as he said criminal not counting himself among them, but ignored that "none of your business." he said dodly trying to once again sound fearless. But she did have to agree wear was cat any way it had been well over a year. She knew he was regardless of his good points a bit of a thrill seeker so it was not too much of a stretch that he was simply wondering around looking for trouble or a thrill. But it did make her wonder as even alya had heard nothing of him in quite a spell as she posted nothing about cat on the lady blog. "Well, well now someone is testy. Are those rumors about you and cat noir true." he stated passively amused inciting a growl from ladybug. Keeping herself in control was hard at time like this but necessary. As for cat noir she brushed off her worry figuring that he was fine as un like adrian he had the miraculous and could defend himself. 'After all these magic suit are conveniently bullet proof, not that I'm eager to test how bullet proof they are' she thought to herself.

However speaking of one blond parisian youth it reminded her of another blond that had occupied her bed acquired recently. And thinking about it, it brought one more question to her mind which made her ponder for answer. "Just out of curiosity what about your son? What do you think he thinks about all this?". And there it was the one question that out of all other brought forth the greatest reaction from the cold hearted man. His eyes went wide only for a second but long enough for ladybug to see it. A momentary lapse in his demeanor that showed that he still had a lingering soft spot before falling to darkness.

The breach in his character faded almost as soon as it started and the familiar and unwanted business side returned. "And how is my son exactly? In good condition I hope" he asked monotone as ever. Also the way he said condition made her blood boil as it sounded more like he was evaluating a piece of fabric not checking on the health of his son.

So taking a deep breath to keep her temper in check her out on her best cold shoulder she could muster. "Your son is fine if only just." as she spoke she watched him and while there were no outward signs she could tell he was interested. "Your son is currently with an associate of mine under my protection for his own safety." she said as she continued to watch and she could tell his attention was peaked. "Unfortunately people were not as understanding as I am when it came to your son in regards to your relation to him." she finish stating. While some might think it wise to keep as much information to themselves in interrogation. But given how even a prisoner like him is allowed a few amenits all it would take is a quick internet search. And even if he was not allowed to use the internet he could still get the information it would just take longer using either the mail which she knew he was allowed from what the warden said. Or he could just have a fellow prisoner get the info for him for a price.

Waiting for response and watching carefully as he weighed the information in his mind, regarding it to determine its value. After about a minute she watched as his lips moved in preparation to speak. "That is most unfortunate though I can not say I am surprised. Though you can not expect to make clothing without there being some scraps left over. Though I must thank you for watching him for me it was vary convenient to have you manege him as he can be difficult to detain." he stated plainly. Marinette on hearing this had to force herself calm lest she turn bright red. She could not believe the man as he was regarding his son...his own son as if he wear just a business commodity and not an actual person merely something he owned. It was frankly disgusting not only did he use his son as basicly free help in his company but even now he still thought he owned his son like he was a show pet.

This was the straw that almost broke the camel's back and it showed when she stood up and spoke venomously. "I can promise you I did not do this for your benefit. I did it for him. In fact your own son would rather never see or hear your name again." she knew she was bluffing on that last part but it would not surprise her if adrian did never want to see him again after what he went through. After all he was not only hawkmoth but also the same man who turned the city against him.

Hawk- or gabriel however did not seem discouraged he honestly seemed more disappointed if anything. "A shame." he started plainly then let out a sigh "seems I can not take this as too much of a surprise. But he will forgive once he knows what I have worked on." it was marinettes turn to be surprised now her eyes widening slightly before morphing into a deep scowl. Even now the man before believed that adrian was just a mindless commodity that was his property. Property that would return to him and when he learned what ever his true motives wear. Unfortunately judging from adrian's condition assuming he can walk again it would be a miracle if he ever forgives.

Ladybug could not help but stare at the man who committed so much evil thinking he was a hero. While she knew that there were people who viewed themselves that way the fact was seeing one was something else entirely. And seeing it made her grateful for having parents as kind and good natured as hers. While pitying adrian who had one who simply used him like an object and did not care for the boy just the body. It was unbelievable what some parents would do to there kids just for money or to take over paris in gabriel's case. While it was true that some parents would use there children like warriors or even worse It was just a hard pill to swallow when seeing it. In the end she was let with few answers and more questions as the man simply sat there looking smugly at at her as if waving a proverbial bone in her face.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

After their final exchange gabrial refused to say any more and was returned to his cell. Once she was alone the warden came to thank her as she got more out of him in fifteen minute then they could in fifteen months. But even then there was an obvious flaw in her mind as they still had no idea what he planned on doing with the miraculous now that he was in prison. Nor could they tell what he may do even while locked up. All she could do was take comfort in knowing that he was on camera 24 hours a day in cuffs all day and was only allowed mail to entertain himself. But in the end there was not much she could do about it as she walked back home as marinette she pondered what had just happened a mere an hour before.

Tikki was in her usual spot in her bag at her side peeking out through the opening being careful not to be noticed and have another accident like last time. That however was beside the point as the kwami looked up towards her partner in wonder. Marinette had not spoken since they left the prison and changed back to civilian form. Infacted the young woman did not even speak after having leff. No instead she relegated herself to silence merely staring ahead only looking elsewhere to check her path for dangers. This however in tikkis mind was cause for concern as she could not remember a time she had been this quiet for so long before. The somewhat vacant and ghostly look on her face did not help with these worries though.

People around them however did not seem to notice though this though either because they were not paying attention or because she had her hood up on her coat. Despite how sunny it was there was a bone chilling cold in the air that signaled the coming of winter was fast approaching. This prompted everyone to bundle up more than usual with jackets scarfs and gloves among other things. Tikki However was unaffected by the cold so long as she had energy to spare which left more energy to worry for her partner.

As tikki watched she could see the street had emptied out leaving her and marinette alone a good opportunity to talk with the bluenette. "Marinette I…" but was interrupted before she could finished. "Tikki please not now." marinette said not even looking at the kwami this greatly surprised the spirit as she had no way of knowing that she was very much aware of her surroundings. Marinette then pushed in place for a minute before looking down at tikki with a weairy smile "it was just a lot to take it. And i need some time to think it over." the girl confessed. Tikki looked at marinette for a few moments wide eyed but then relented "I understand."

tikki was truthful when she said it over the last thousand years she had seen and heard much and knew that situations like this are never easy to say the least. And marinette being a relatively inexperienced ladybug in a world which save for one or two areas of if was living in a era of peace. Well things like this wear bound to happen. While there wear always going to be bad people in the world this world had fewer of them in positions of power that could cause many to suffer as most just wanted money. So unlike most of her old ladybugs marinette was living in a land of peace and happiness and was not made to suffer like the others had.

So with that in mind she putt on a brave smile gazing up at her partner "I'll be here if you ever need anything." she stated. Marinette smiled back at her little partner. The kwami over the years had been good to her giving support and encouragement wear ever possible and even now when she was asking for some time to herself she still continually gave support to her. Reaching a gloved hand down to touch the little spirit rubbing her head gently "thanks tikki." she said kindly.

They stood there another minute when the girl thought of something thanks to her conversation with gabriel "hay tikki?" she said gaining the pleased spirits attention. "Ya?" she responded back to marinette wondering what she was thinking as she could see her mind work. "I was wondering. Later would you want to see someone who could probably use a friend?" the girl asked. Tikki just sat there looking up at the girl a moment in wonder as if trying to think about what she was up too. Then a bright smile appeared on her face "that sounds wonderful marinette." tikki responded happy that despite what happened she still thought of the good of others. Having said this after their moment of understanding the girl and her spirit went back on there way towards home. However as they made their way back they wear both unaware of the storm that was brewing in the shadows.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

 **Ok that's a wrap on this chapter lot longer then i thought it would be. and sorry again that it took so long elda-za among other things got in my way. Or I got in my own way. Either way there will be one more chapter before we get back to adrian as I have one more thing to do before that. the plot of the story will start to show through a bit more in the next chapter which will show more of what's to come my only question is can you guess what i am going to do? Also we will see another old character return in the story next chapter round. Which one will it be well you will have to wait and see, I will say that said person will play a title roll in the story and will be a major player coming up.**

 **Alright that's was short but there's not much more I think needs to be said. Season two is coming soon so "whoo hoo!" other than that though there is not much else. So with that done again please if you like my work leave a fav or a follow. And please leave a review I love reading about what you think of my story it help me get ideas for future chapters so please leave one. Other then that I Hope you enjoyed and Have a great day.**


	8. Chapter VI black swan

**Ok this chapter is finally out sorry it took so long and yes I am sure you heard that one before but it's all I got no excuses for why it's not out sooner. There way it's ready now and I hope you like it this chapter will finally get more towards the overall plot of the story and will mark the beginning of things to come. Also I did not expect this chapter to be so long as it went way over what I thought it would even in my wildest imaginings but it's a long chapter probably my longest which is starting to concern me. Either way I hope you all like it I am keeping this as short as I can so you can enjoy. The only really thing I have to say is for those who want to see more Chloe and there have been a few this chapter should appease you. I hope…. Either way I am rambling so without further adue role the tape.**

 **P.s as a side note I will apologize now if there are some bugs in my typing there seems to be a glitch or something going on with the fanfiction file converter or something and its been coming out goofy like so if you see a problem let me know and I'll try to fix it.**

Chapter SIX black swan

It was late at night the moon was high and waxing shining light through the barred window of the prison. Sitting at the desk in his cell was Gabriel agrest staring at the wall wear a poorly lit clock hung telling him it was less than five minutes to midnight. Adorning the walls of his cell wear cases of insects and other specimens, primarily beetles crustaceans and of course butterflies and moths. One my say it was a cliche that Gabriel was collecting things like butterflies and moths given who his villain identity was. But he simply scoff at the implication. His love of bugs was simply a coincidence as he had always loved collecting them. He often used them as inspiration for his designs for his fashion lines. Using the intricate patterns they had for the detailed fabric in fact some of his best lines wear based off of the wings of butterflies and moths. He even designed Armour for the military using the rhino beetle as the lintel insertion.

This however was pointless as Gabriel watched as the seconds ticked by waiting for the right moment. In Front of him was a sealed box that he had been eagerly awaiting to open all day, but alas he had to wait for safety sake as opening it early would ruin everything. However he would not have to wait long as he check the time again...one minute left till it was time to open the box, one minute to midnight. If one looked around the room and ignored the bugs in cases one would notice there was only one bed and bath as well as the desk. The reason for this was because he was in solitary confinement. He had been in this way since he was first imprisoned.

However unlike most prisoners he was not given any much for privileges the only ones being mail and his desk with as much paper or books for reading as he could want to keep him from becoming bored. The reason for this is that the warden found that poured prisoners that are the most trouble to keep imprisoned are ones with too much time on there hands. So by that logic allowing himself to stay entertained was the best way to make sure he did not try anything.

While gabriel could care less either way as the planning he had been doing for the past few years would be enough to keep him books he was given where a welcomed gesture and a decent distraction that gave him a chance catch up on his reading. Besides he knew he would have to wait years for his plain to start so it was a good way to be productive as well as pass the time while he waited for the post.

"Thirty second" not one might ask why he was so concerned with waiting till midnight well the answer was simple. Because of his magic powers the Worden upped the security tenfold in the area in and around his cell. Meaning the guards wear both watching and listening to his every move all day, every day...well almost.

"Fifteen seconds" because of the hasty construction and other things taking priority like the group of revolutionaries that ladybug brought in after they attack the french capital a few years back who wear also in this prison as an example.

"Ten seconds" thanks to that his cell never got the adjustments it needed and so ever other week at around midnight Gabriel had about a five minute window where the video and audio sensors in and around his cell stopped working for maintenance. And all because they got cheep last minute on budget.

"Five seconds" because of this it gave him all the time he needed to do what he had to if he managed his time properly.

Looking back to the clock his eyes widened with silent glee as it was time. Moving his hands up on the desk being careful to avoid running out of chain. Grabbing the tape with one hand and the box with the other he made short work of it. Once removed he began to open the box as swiftly as he could to avoid getting caught doing what he was about to. Opening the package he quickly tossed aside the bubble paper to reveal butterflies. However this was just a ruse to fool anyone who check the mail. Pulling out several slides of the butterflies until all of them wear out of the box. Before him wear a collection of butterflies that in a verity of colors spanning the whole rainbow. Adjusting his glasses he began to take a closer look at all of them. He reminded himself he had to be quick as he only had a few minutes but he could also not afford a mistake.

He looked through each of the pinned specimens carefully examining each one with precision and care being sure to take in all there details. He knew what he was looking for but finding it would be far from easy as it had been years since he had seen these exact specimens. The last time he had seen the one he was looking for was when he put it in storage a few years ago before getting caught.

And then he saw it. On the lower left wing of a black European butterfly was the small but ever present symbol of hawkmoth. "Appropriate given what black butterflies represent I had forgotten which of you was the real one after all this time. Nearly seven years since I made you." he said out loud as he pushed the other slides aside and putting it center stage. Being careful not to damage the case or its contents he opened the case. Setting the glass carefully aside he then removed the pin from the black butterfly then ever so carefully pulled the black butterfly from the slide. Examining the butterfly for damage was relieved when he seen none as this little butterfly would be his backup plan.

Taking the seemingly dead creature in hand clasped both of them together and began to focus his energy. Glancing up at the clock he could see he only had about three minutes before the camera's rebooted to finish so he had to hurry. Redoubling his efforts focusing even more energy into his clasped hands. Feeling his strength starting to slip he wondered how much more it would take to awaken his little surprise now that his connection to the miraculous had been cut. While he was far from weak still having all the magic strength and knowledge he possessed while as hawkmoth. He was still admittedly no master and knew he lacked the proper training to do what he wished as easily as he could be for. But his efforts wear rewarded as it was enough as he could feel the lingering magic in his butterfly reawaken within his grasp. Cutting the supply of his dark power he opened his hands to reveal wonderfully dark and twisted akuma.

He smiled for the first time in years as his plain was working perfectly so far. Before being arrested when he was preparing for his first wave he made six akuma and placed them insides like the ones he collected. Then placed them in hibernation before disguising them and placing them in storage. So with the hidden akuma made he placed them in storage so on the off chance he got caught and arrested as he was now they would be mailed to him. He also knew that the government would not kill him firstly ladybug is the peacekeeper miraculous the one who works for peace and not the tactical victory like his was. Besides he knew that some in the government would not have him killed as they would want to understand how to use magic and ladybug was not going to share with anyone so they have him. Well they would if he would break which he won't.

Getting up from his chair holding the akuma tenderly in his hands he would not have anything harm his akuma. Checking the time he noticed there was a little over a minute and a half. 'Good right on schedule'. Moving to sand in front of the bars of his cell checking both ways as best as he could to make sure there was no guard near by. Seeing that the coast was clear though he slipped his hands through the bars holding the akuma out in the moonlight wear the only window was and unfortunately there was a crack in the window just large enough for an akuma to slip though. "The warden is going to regret cutting the budget to replace that window soon." he stated smugly as the warden going cheap to save money would make his job easier.

Bringing the akuma up close to his face so he could see it clearly the little insect that would be the catalyst that would aid him in his end game. "Now my little akuma." he said casing the little bug to turn his way in attention awaiting orders. "Go out and seek one who is depressed. One who the world has turned against. One who will be easy to saw to are side and will be my spy, my eyes and ears. Find one of my commanders. Now go." he said swiftly throwing his hand up sending the akuma flying. Gabriel then watched as the first of a new wave of akuma flew away to bring about the beginning of a new order. And he could not wait for the reports of his success to come.

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A few hours earlier

Alone that's what she was sitting alone in a dark room watching a bright monitor screen was a young blond haired girl named Chloe. She simply stared at the screen uncaring what was on just watched if only for the sake of not going to bed. She did not know why she just watched the screen. In fact she was unsure why she even bothered any more not just with the computer but anything. honestly she could not clearly remember the last time she went outside it had been so long. So long since everything fell apart. If was as if over night that she was a high roller then turned recluse. She had been called a bully, a monster, however she brushed it off as people being jealous of her wealth and to shove it in there faces that she was not afraid to show her wealth. Then shortly after the final battle with hawk moth the hate came as people soon started accusing her of being in league with Gabriel. She was being threatened, called mean things, had things thrown at her, even assaulted once, heck there was a I hate Chloe sight as well. She was being bullied. She knew what the word meant but never how it felt now she did and now more than ever she regretted what she had become she had become a monster and now people wear seeing her and treating as such.

Bringing her knees to her chest hugging them close for warmth and the little comfort she felt as she felt painfully cold and empty despite the temperature in the room. It was so painful just getting out of bed some days. She would some days have to force herself to leave her bed much less do anything. looking back it had been a long time since she last saw her father or heard from him. Having not left the room she was in over a year there were few people she saw. Honestly the only person that ever came to see her at all was her butler. 'But he only did it because he wanted to get paid I'm was sure of that. Why else would he deal with a monster daily unless it was because he was getting paid' She thought bitterly to herself.

"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, excuse miss Bourgeois." she could hear coming from the door to her lavish room. 'Speaking of which' she thought unamused as the man that served her had appeared as if through thought alone. ' I wonder what he wants now? Dinner was a while ago so it couldn't be that.' she thought silently to herself looking back towards her feet ignoring the computer now. But no sooner had she silently asked that question did she get an answer. "Miss Bourgeois if you a decent i would humbly ask to present yourself as a guest wishes to see you."

Chloe's head immediately shot up as she heard the end of her long time butlers sentence 'a guest hear? For her?' so many thoughts swam through her head right now wondering what was going on. The last (guest) she had was Sabrina but that was over a year ago. But that could not be right as her butler would have just let Sabrina in with or without her permission unless she specifically said otherwise. So it couldn't be Sabrina, but if not Sabrina then who…

"who is it?" she asked as loudly as she could her voice hoarse from not using it much or at all that day. There was a slight pause of a few seconds to which she did not know what was happening. But before too long she got her answer. "There appears to be" Her butler started again regaining chloe's interest "a young miss Dupain-Cheng who wishes to speak with you in person." the man finished in his usual business tone.

Chloe was baffled by the name as it sounded familiar but she did not recall knowing much less finding any...Dupain-Cheng's recently or at all. It frankly sounded like a Chinese name not a french much less European name… 'wait Chinese name. French?...Chinese?…... marinette! the half Chinese french girl from school!' that's where she knew the name from that because it belonged to marinette the girl she was constantly picking on and making fun of since they were in grade school. That explained why she knew the name but not why. Namely why would anyone, marinette of all people be visiting her forget talk to her.

However at the same time she could not suppress her curiosity about the situation presented to her. Looking down at herself as she still wore her pajamas from last night no where near ready to see people. Looking back at the door she could see the shadows of her butler and marinette feet from under the door. Looking back between herself and the door a few times contemplating whether or not she should go. However she would need to answer soon if she was going to so what was her answer going to be.

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Marinette was standing outside the door of chloe's room with her butler something that a few days ago she never would have considered doing. As less than a week ago she was also a teller of the don't go being a Chloe joke club. But now she was genuinely concerned for the girl and she could not figure out why. As literally a week ago she hated the blonde guts for what she put her through for over a decade and now she was visiting for a figurative Sunday social. It was all vary strange to feel concern for someone she disliked for so long.

Standing beside her was the butler who if she remembered right had served Chloe's family for… well honestly as far back as she could recall. Though what was his name? Either way while it did not show very well she could tell there was a small frown of what looked like concern on his face. While she did not know why he would be concerned for Chloe I mean it's not like she was in any danger as anyone who knew her knew that she would not let anyone save her father teller what to do. And while people were still likely and probably always will be mad at her the hotel was safe enough. And it was unlikely someone would be mad enough to go that far out of there way to kill her.

Both she and the butler waited for little over a minute and marinette began to wonder if she would ever get a response. But her patience paid off as a short while later… "bring our guest to the family's meeting room I'll be there shortly." she said only just loud enough to hear. However the way she said it surprised marinette as it did not sound like the Chloe she knew. But she did not have time to ponder this as "as you wish miss bourgeois. I shall escort your guest to await your arrival." the butler said before shuffling her away and down the hall. As the walked she could see the tell tail high end hotel that she knew from years prior. But recently she had not been hear as a most of the public disturbances and even a few of the quiet ones rarely wear at the hotel. On one hand she could count the number of times she had been inside the hotel for one reason or another. But she could not remember going in this wing of the hotel.

From what the butler told her before after she said she would like to visit chloe he said that the wing on this floor was the family residence. And while at first it just looked like the same stereotypical hotel looking closer you could see a number of personal touches. There were countless paintings vases a few old suit of armor, over all a large amount of art and heirlooms that looked hundreds of years old. All in all this wing looked just in general far more vibrant and full of life then the rest of the building a perfect place for a family. It even reminded her of home.

"This area of the building used to be used for a number of family functions years ago you know." he said gaining the girls attention who mind was wandering. "Huh?" the bluebell said stuttering a bit from surprise from the suddenness of the butler's words. "This wing" he stated again not looking back "years ago when young miss bourgeois was a girl used to be used frequently for family gatherings." the man elaborated to the girl. Marinette was now listening intently wondering why he was telling her this as 'what dose this area being used as a family gathering place for parties have to do with anything?' she wondered to herself. As if reading her mind though the man answered "you see when when this hotel was first built in the 1800s it was the crowning achievement of the bourgeois family" the man said with a slight pause checking on the guests. Seeing that he had her attention he continued "for years after this hotel was used as not only the meeting point of the family but also as a place of family celebration. As such this hotel was passed on through several generations. Ah here we are." the man stated stopping his story standing before a set of double doors. Marinette was slightly disappointed by the interruption as she was getting curious as to what he was going to say. But on the other hand it would be rude to just ask him out right so she would just have to wait and see.

Opening the doors marinette was exposed to a surprisingly modestly lavished small sitting room with floral wallpaper and red chairs with golden trim, with a glass in wood stained frame table, red and golden trim curtains. There were also waist high vases with what looked like violet pompom plants in them, to top it all off was a small but vary noticeable chandelier hanging from the sealing. "This is the family's private meeting room" the man said as he ushered marinette into the room. "It is supposed to be a recreation of the room that Mr. bourgeois used to propose to his wife the late miss bourgeois." he stated plainly as possible. "Wait late? Did something happen to chloe's mother?" she blurted out loud. She did not mean to but hearing about chloe's mother was a bit of a surprise as she never talked about it. thinking back on it she could not remember ever meeting chloe's mother.

The butler who was in the middle of closing the door when she asked with let out a deep audible breath making it clear to marinette she said something she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything. Never mind I…" she began to blabber on and on in usual fashion. "It is quite alright." the butler said turning around to face the girl. "It is quite alright" he repeated "yes young miss bourgeois mother late miss bourgeois past away some years ago when young miss bourgeois was but a child." stated as swiftly as he could. Hearing thing made the girl wonder if he ever got tired of saying young miss senior or whatever with everyone's names. But also sympathy as growing up without a mother must not have been very easy. It certainly would explain a lot as to why chloe acted the way she did. as even though mayor bourgeois could be considered bumbling at times he did always have the good of the city at heart. But also the fact that he was an extremely busy man and even now he still had a lot on his plate on a day to day schedule. So living without a mother and busy father could not have been easy.

"Now then" the butler said once again drawing her attention for what must have been the third time. "Would you like to take a seat?" he asked politely motioning to a chair facing away from the door. Marinette gladly accepted this gesture and sat down and thanked him politely. He then asked if she would like some tea to which she accepted gratefully. The butler then excused himself from the room to fetch said tea leaving her alone to wait for both him and the tea. And most of all chole.

As she waited she took the time to examine her surroundings a bit more more looking about the room. While she was not one to condone over extravagance she had to give the mayor some credit as he had good taste in furnishings. But that made her remember that this was supposedly a recreation of the room chloe's father proposed in. if that was true she was impressed as trying to recreate a room purely from memory is extremely hard. It became more evident that it was the case as she noticed some details that wear out of place in the modern times. Namely the very old school phone from the early 19s the old timely furniture and overall style of everything in the room. Everything was older then it should be in this day and age. However she had to remind herself that this was a recreation so such devotion was understandable.

Then she noticed something on the wall facing towards the inner part of the hotel wear five portraits on the wall. She immediately recognised the last portrait and arguably the newest as the mayor. Then looking at the previous one before the mayor if she remembered right from her cities history was the mayor's father, and Chloe's grandfather. Ya it was chloe's grandfather as she remembered Chloe doing a report about her family for school as a history project during a segment of family lineage and how you family can shape the succeeding generations. However if she remembered right he past away some time ago in an accidental fire. Looking back at the remained three portraits and seeing the similar features that would mean that the third would be chloe's great grandfather. then the second would her great, great grandfather. And the last would be her great, great, great grandfather who again if she remembered right was the founder of the family hotel some time in the…."1800s." she exclaimed out loud as the words that the butler stated previously echoed in her head. "That would mean that the main hair to the family inherits the hotel when they come of age. Which means that." she could not finish her sentence when she realized from the moment she was born chloe was going to at some point inherit the palace sized hotel. Marinette had too lean back a bit at the though as just thinking about it was shocking to her as if she had an inheritance like this… she would not know what to say honestly.

Looking back to the portraits again she began to wonder who only men wear on the wall and began to think that the mayor's ancestors wear sexist like her grandfather was towards her mother for so long. But that could have just been an article of the time for all she knew choles ancestors respected women but people outside the hotel did not. As she looked at the people in the portrait made her wonder if chloe would be up there some day in the future.

"Vary life like are they not?" a voice behind her said casing the poor blue hair to almost jump out of her seat. Only to turn to see the butler with a small cart with a pair of tea cups and a pot of tea. "Apologize" the man said after noticing her jump in surprised "I did not mean to alarm you...tea?". Marinette just stared at the black suited man for a few moment before slowly nodding her head. The butler said nothing as he proceeded to prepare two cups for tea one for her and likely one for chole. As she sat matching the man who silently moved into the room with her prepare tea she began to wonder wear chloe was. As even before while the girl was rude and thought only of herself she rarely kept people waiting. At least not this long.

However before long the tea was done and a scourer with a cup "earl gray" the butler said as he handed her the cup. Being polite she accepted the cup and while gray was not her favorite she ignored that thanking the man instead. Then taking a sip from the cup confirmed her thoughts on the matter it did not taste that good in her mind but that was her preference, also her mother was highly skilled in tea blending so it was likely she was also spoiled by that as well.

After she received her tea she saw the butler place another on the opposite side of the table facing her before backup. "If there is nothing else I shall take my leave as miss Bourgeois would like this meeting to be private. If that is not a problem of course." the man said in a mater fact way. However marinette was left confused as the man continued to stand unmoving. 'Why is he…" she thought silently before 'oh!' "um no that's all right you can leave now if you want." she said stuttering not used to dealing with people like him. The butler however said nothing before bowing slightly then proceeded to leave

This left marinette alone once again as she sat with her tea waiting for chole. Though she still could not believe it she was willingly waiting for the one person who she in all reason should loath and yet eve scene earlier that day she had a nagging worry about her. Setting the tea down she pulled out her phone to do two things first put it on vibrate. Second check to see if there was any information on adrian. After deciding she check on chloe she sent a message to her mama that she had to do something and might be back late. Of course her mother was vary understanding and let her go without question. The only things she really did say was that she would let her know if anything changed about adrian before marinette had a chance to ask.

"No messages. Well I guess I can be thankful that there's no bad news." she muttered her herself a little disappointed as she was hoping that adrian would have woken up by now as it had been some time since they brought him home. But she had to remind herself that he was still in recovery and needed rest in order to do that and she needed to be patient as much as she did not want to. Adrian would wake up eventual in due time she just had to wait. Or at least that's what she told herself.

Her train of thought had been thrown off when she heard the door turn behind her then slowly open. She forced herself to remain stationary as it would be rude of her to simple whirl around and stare at her. As she waited she heard a ruffle of fabric before hearing steps coming close to her. And within seconds she saw a person in a plain white shirt and black pants walk past her. But what she saw when the person turned around greatly surprised the blue bell.

Before her was as mentioned a girl about her age wearing a plain white shirt and plain black pants. Things that chloe might normally wear on her own accord, But everything else was far. For the girl in front of her was pale very pale much like adrian, however unlike adrian she was far plumper being somewhat round in appearance. She was at least twenty pounds to heavier then what she should be. Her face was also a bit of a surprise having no makeup on her instead having some red spots a clear sign on of treated achni. Though looking at it there was only a slight amount of it which told her that she was growing out of it. In all honesty minus the eyes the only thing that reminded her of the old chole was her bright yellow hair that cascaded down her back almost to the knees. having not been cut in some time and was simply left to hang loose and free down her head and back untied.

Marinette was wide eyed by her change in appearance remembering the old chole being vary rigid and shape with everyone on appearances, Herself included. So to see the blond in such a state of disrepair was shocking for lack of better words.

"Well. is there something that you wanted?" she asked as strictly as she could. However she was unable to hide her timidness as she gripped one of her arms nervously. Marinette closed her mouth at this not realizing it was open and tried to bring herself to her senses. But at the same time she could not help but look at the girl who while not a good person was a pinnacle of strength. who now looked like her own shadow would frighten her as she looked around the room nervously as if seeking out a threat on herself.

However seeing as she was being stared at by chloe and not wanting to stare in return gave an answer. "Oh I came to see if you were alright. A-and maybe to talk if you would like." marinette got out trying to hide her awkwardness. However it was not going well as she felt that her voice betrayed her. As she could not hide the fact that she from all the years of grief she was put through felt disgust towards the girl. And while she was trying to get over it and give the girl a second chance she still could not hide all those years despite her best efforts.

Oddly enough this was usually the part wear the girl would try to rip her head off for talking to her in such a tone. But surprisingly enough the blond just turned her head innocently looking at the blue bell her fear momentarily suppressed. then letting out a barely audible but still present "really?" the blonde said meekly wondering if it was true or not. To which the french chinese girl just nodded in an encouraging manner.

Chloe's eye widened in disbelief with a look plastered on her lips that showed she could not believe what she was both hearing and seeing. "Y-you really mean that?" she asked again clearly still unconvinced by marinettes intended words. Her lips quivering in unspoken fears " I mean after everything I have done to you. You want to spend time with me of all people? I mean I'm sure you have better things to do then talk to me." the girl in white and black rambled off hesitantly and fearfully out of character for the strong willed person who she once was.

But marinette relented in her efforts to speak with the girl and just gave a second nod following up with a smile. "Of course." she started with a wide i'll be it awkward smile "why else would I be here other than to talk with you and see how you are doing." she asked trying to sound honest still trying her best to suppress her negativity towards the girl.

However much to marinette surprise her face became dark and clouded as she looked away towards the closed window mere feet away. And as chloe did this marinette could almost swear she said "Mock me" which cased marinette to real back a bit trying to figure out if she heard the girl right. 'Why would she think I am hear to tease her? I may not like her but I'm not mean.' she wondered to herself.

Chlo'e over her own about a minute latter of observing marinette silently the girl relaxed letting out a relieved sigh. "Do you like the tea?" the blond asked suddenly from left field throwing marinette for a loop. She was able to maintain composure however if someone she knew asked her a question like that after their previous exchange she would honestly wonder what's wrong with them. But looking the nervous blond over she could tell that she was feeling very uncomfortable by the way she carried herself. And that she was while nervous at least trying to make conversation the way she was glancing back to her with a hopeful glint in her eyes. This however just made her wonder 'what could have happened to make her like this?' she wondered silently.

"It's good thank you" marinette responded pleasantly holding her earlier questions "your butler do a good job blending it" she continued. This comment surprised chloe a bit "you know about tea blending?" she asked confused. To which the blue bell just nodded "yes my mama love blending tea. she taught me everything she knows about it." she commented proudly at the thought of her mother. "Though" she paused "I am not as good as she is at it" she said slightly sounding slightly embarrassed to put chloe at ease a bit rubbing her head to add to her show.

Chlo'e on the other hand seemed somewhat stunned and marinette wondered what was wrong, especially when she muttered "I never knew". Then a tiny smile appeared on her face making poor superhero in disguise just break down in confusion. "its funny" the blonde said randomly once again not looking at marinette. "My mother like tea. She also like making it herself as she would never touch anything pre made" the blond said explaining about her mother taking her seat as she did so. "It was one of her favorite things to do when her health was poor while I was unborn." chol'e further explained leaving marinette on the proverbially edge of her seat. "Or" she started again "that's what my father told me anyway" the blond finished.

Marinette for her part could not believe what she was hearing. Not only was she having what you could call a meaningful conversation with chloe that lasted over a minute. But she was also learning more about chloe in less than five minutes then she had in fifteen years. There was also the fact that when she thought about it listening to her she sounded quite normal. Like a girl who put up a tough exterior because of wealth and a lack of discipline but also to hide her own loneliness. thinking about it she had to admit with her father being such a high profile person even before he was mayor probably came with a lot of enemies. So chloe probably did not get out much and was not able to make friends much like how adrian was cooped up in his house. For that matter the only reason she was probably friend with Sabrina was because her father was always over doing security for the event for mayor ship and brought his daughter along to play with chol'e.

Marinette was so lost in thought that she did not hear see chloe take her cup of tea or even hear her speak right away. "-so then my mother would take me to make Victorian tea and we would have a small tea party just her and me...are you still listening?" the girl then asked noticing the slightly absent face of marinette. While marinette almost jumped at hearing her name. "him? -what. Oh…" she stammered out confused coming back to reality. She then looked at the face of Chloe who was staring expectantly casing her brain to frantically piece together what she was only half listening to. "right a tea party with your mother. I'm sorry you just reminded me of my own mother and how we used to do the same thing." marinette said hoping to cover her absent mindedness. And chole seemed to buy it as a small smile graced her lips and marionette would dare say despite her disheveled state was almost beautiful. As if she was finally allowing herself to show true and not pretend.

Something was still bothering marinette though chloe just sounded… well broken. Like she had been smashed to pieces and was left in a skater fo pieces. And that discounting the fact that she could tell that she was only talking about tea because they had tea in front of her. The reason she could tell was simple it was something she did with adrian on more than one occasion because she just did not know what to say. The awkward talking, the stuttering, talking about a random things on an object before her, looking for anything to talk about to hide her insecurities. All of these things she herself did when dealing with adrian. She was scared. Scared of what she would do to the person in front of her as to not offend. 'What could have happened to make chol'e change so much?'

Marinette though as kind as she was even to someone like chloe deserving of a second chance or not decided to stay and talk with the girl. They talked about this and that for well over an hour with marinette letting chloe to to do most of the talking with her simply listening. And much to the blue bells surprise the talk was quite enjoyable. Once you cut away the rude exterior and her spoiled attitude chloe was honestly a very interesting person. As since she was a little girl she had been all over Europe. She talked about trips to London in Britain, Berlin in Germany, even one of the coastal cities in Italy.

A large number of these tripes were apparently taken when her father was in his early days on business having only just inherited the hotel. And just before he got into politics. And it seemed to work as the hotel was one of the highest ranked on the continent of Europe. So while her father was promoting the hotel and finding ways to improve it by examining what ether high class hotels wear doing her mother would take her around the city on tour.

Though it was no all good as on several occasions when chloe's mother was mention the blond girl would just stop. And for several minute after moments like this she looked like she would break down and leave. However with some soothing and encouragement from marinette she would open up and talk again. Wear she would talk about something else but always would she avoid the subjects of her mother when she was older and adrian. And while she understood not talking about adrian given how bitter she was at him thanks to his father. She wondered why she only talked about her mother when she was a little girl. While marinette knew she passed away but chloe's mother was relatively young so surely she did not simply pass away so that early. Right? But then again the butler's words rang in her mind as well.

And before long it was quarter past nine and way past the time she should be home. Pulling out her phone from feeling a vibration she check it to see a message from alya about a lady bug sighting. She had to smile slightly at the tanned girl as she already knew about the sighting. It was kinda funny with her being ladybug the whole time and alya was still as clueless as ever. "I guess it's true what they say look too closely at something and you can miss what's right in front of you." she commented out loud. "what ?" chloe asked confused looking back at her bewilderment and nerves clear in her eyes. This cased marinette to blush nervously rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Oh it's nothing." she started "I was just reading a message from a friend." she commented. Casing chole to breath a heavy sigh of relief.

And that's when she noticed the time on her phone. Her eyes went wide realizing how late it had gotten. "I don't believe it it's already that late." looking at the clock on her phone in disbelief. "I guess you have to go now?" marinette heard casing her to look up at the blond girl who looked away...she dare say sadly. Making the blue bell wonder if chloe felt so alone to crave anyone's attention.

"Sorry chloe but I need to get back home as I have something that need to be done." she confessed thinking back to adrian while doing so. Chole then looked to her almost pleadingly for a moment making marinette wonder what she would do. But a minute later the blond just closed her eyes taking a deep breath. Marinette thought she would say something but the girl just sat there quietly looking away from marinette. While the girl would like to stay a bit longer as she never did find out what was casing her to act this way. Only hints as to what happened, but she did not have time tonight as she needed to get home not only to get caught up on the work she was neglecting thanks to her helping adrian. Also she just needed to check up on the boy in general as her mama would most likely like to give him another bath soon to keep him from getting sicker and she would probably need her help.

She was about to excuse herself politely so she could get home but before she could. "Your friend." chloe said suddenly casing marinette to spin on her heel to face the girl again as she was readying to leave. The blond girl bite her lower lip a bit as if in deep thought but then spoke "I suppose you have a lot of friends." she continued seemingly struggling to say it before looking away for seemingly no reason.

Marinette just smiled unable to stop herself. She could not believe what she was seeing chloe instead of being the usual rude self was practically asking to be friends. And she was not smiling because she was being smug but rather happy that the formerly intolerable girl was not trying to change herself for the better. And in her mother's words everyone deserves a second chance. It was just funny that the girl just could not just come out and say it. Given how vocal about her wants back a few years ago.

Sighing in amusement at how while sad somewhat ironic the girl was being. So taking a set forwards she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder which caused the girl to jump slightly. Looking up towards marinette chole just stared confused at what she was going to do. "You know" she gaining as a worried expression plagued the blond's face. But marinette just pretended that she did not notice as she continued on "if you wanted to become friends all you had to do was ask.". The moment marinette said this chloe's face immediately lit up in surprise.

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Chloe was over the moon as she sat at her computer desk. Before marinette left she said that if she wanted to be friends all she had to do was ask. At the time though she could not bring herself to. But as she was leaving marinette told her she could call her any time and that she could just come over if she wanted. So for her she was quite thrilled as the last time anyone had been nice to her…well she honestly did not know as it had been so long. Though she still did not know why marinette of all people wear trying to be friendly with her when even sabrina stopped talking to her. Which caused the depressed worry to start to come into her heart.

Feeling the dark painful ach returning inside herself she went online as onto social media. Then with mission in mind she typed in marinettes name. She then clicked the send a message button. Then before she even thought about it she typed in "can you be friends?". Having typed this she then moved her mouse over to the send button hovering over it with trepidation having lost her earlier drive. She wanted to hit the button and ask for her to be friend so that she could finally not be alone. But at the same time what if it was all a lie a evil trick to ensnare her and hurt her. And for that matter was she even worth being helped.

She then looked over to a photo of an older blond woman holding a small smiling blond blonde of joy. Picking up the photo holding it close "What would you tell me to do right now?" she asked the inanimate object before her. He gaze then fell to a vary decorative pin the rested in front of wear the picture was. Picking up the lovely ornaments black hair pin on the desk holding it tenderly in her hand. The object in question having belonged to her mother years ago. Tears then began to fall from her face and onto the pin and and photo. "Why did you have to leave me alone?" she asked as a stream of tears fell from her face. "Am I such a monster that I am not worth anything?" she shrieked voice cracking from strain.

Unbenounced to chloe a black and purple butterfly had picked up on her depression and immediately changed course. It flew silent as the night towards the hotel finding its way towards the closed windows. Then using magic unknown slips through the crack in the window before flying to the girl whose hand rested on a photo while the other held a the pin. And before she knew what happened the evil insect went and merged with the pin as a dark moth symbol appeared on chloe's face casing chloe to yelp in surprise at the familiar sensation.

"Hello chloe Bourgeois so we meet this way yet again." a man's voice rang in her mind to which she knew all too well. "Hawk moth." she gasped remembering the same voice invading her mind years prior. "So you do remember me. But enough with that name. You already know who I am so there is no need for titles. You may call me by my true name as there is no longer a need for secret identities." the man said coldly to the girl sending a shiver down her spin remembering the last time she had been taken over by the man.

"L-le-leave me alone" chloe said fearfully unsure of what to do knowing full well what he could do. "Oh you don't mean that young chloe." he started to which she was about to retort having a little bit of a fire in her heart from fear wanting to be rid of the moth villain just wanting to be left alone wear she belonged. But Gabriel was already ahead of her "you see I have a proposition for you." she claimed to the girl. Chole however just ignored this "I don't want anything I just want to be left alone." she yelled at him.

Gabriel just gave a small laugh "oh I am sure I have something to offer you… would you not like to leave this depression and be loved again to get out of this room again. To have people worship even?" this made chloe's eyes widen in surprise. She did want to be loved again to stop having people hate her, But. looking at the screen that had a friend request yet unsent.

However this innocent act was not left unnoticed "what you think that girl cares about your the last person she would care for." the manipulative man said to the broken girl. "But she was being so nice to me." she said sounding on the verge of tears again. "And you think she cares?...please." making the eyes of the blond go wide as old memories came to surface. "She hates you." Gabriel said as memories of all the mean things she did being to flood her mind. "She despises you. What have you done to her that would make you think she cares?" he stated as a memory of chloe pushing marinette into a puddle of mud when they wear still in grade school and every other kid laughing at the blue haired girl. "You wrong. I know I don't deserve it but she is forgiving me." the girl said desperately making the man quickly amused. "You actually think she is doing this because she forgive you? She is doing it to make you miserable. After all you tried to take the only person that she ever loved away.".

Then as if on que a number of memory's of her taking and going after adrian and hurting marinette came to mind. It was almost to much as chole clutched her head in pain no agony. Growing from the strain of the memories she just had one question "why?" she asked almost whimpering. To which she got an answer from the dark man. "Think about it why would she give you the one person she hates most the one thing you crave when everyone else will simply ignore you. Your butler only works for you because he has to. You friend sabine was only your friend because she had to. Even your own father has written you off. So why would she give you love unless she had every intention of breaking you yat again?" the man finished with an opened ended question with cold calculation in his voice.

"No" was all chole could say and even then it came in a whisper. But with the cold white haired man in her mind it did not matter as he heard every word she though. "Yes. you know it to be true. It's just a matter of time till she betrays you just like everyone else." the man said to the girl simply without faltering to the shattered girl. "No, no, no, no." was all she was left saying seeing the image of finally being freed from loneliness burned to ash. She could almost say she heard a sigh of what sounded like pity. And even though she was sure it could not be true she was too far gone to care as the barrage of bad memories finally stopped.

"I know it's hard. I've been betrayed as well." he said sounding almost sympathetic now. Making the girl look up to an imaginary point in space wear it sounded like he was coming from. "You have?" she asked with a loud sniff from tears. She then heard a deep groan of discomfort in her mind this time making her wonder what he was doing before finally, "yes I once had friends. However just like you the betrayed me when I needed them most. And when I did ask for aid I was turned away. And all because those around save two craved the power I had and wanted it for themselves. So I went to take it back and then those two fools ladybug and cat noir blindly got in my way not truly know the real villain. And now the city has turned on me as your aware...just like you if I recall." Gabriel finished pointing the story at chloe making the girl feel more lonely and depressed then ever. As he was right everyone she knew turned there back on her.

"But." he stated though seemingly ignored "there are two people who do care about you. Two people who would never betray you." the man said trying a bit harder this time. And it worked as this got the girls attention big time. Looking up again at no place in particular "who?" she asked both worried and confused. "Well" he started yet again dragging out the word. "The boy, my son was one such person. Despite everything she still cares about you." he said shocking the girl. "No he would not care for me I betrayed him." she muttered heart broken at what she had done to Adrian.

"No. he doesn't see it that way even now I can tell that he feels no ill will towards you." he said in a slightly more pleasant manner than before to sound more appealing. "Really?" the girl asked is near disbelief. "Yes think about it has he ever once during all these years done anything to harm you despite everything that has happened." the man asked before going silent. Even though she knew now that adrian loathed being near her she was reminded of all the times he would put up with her. So while she did not say it out loud Gabriel had his answer. "See you know it's the truth. My son never hated you simply put he was being influenced by that girl marinette. Adrian knew you well but marinette was different and he could not resist." the man said with a hint of pity. Chole did not know how he knew all this but she remembered all the times that adrian went to marionnettes side

thinking about it he was right adrian was always nice to her even with everything she had done. But would he really accept her back. Her worry and fear returning ten fold the danger that gabrial presented forgotten. Then what sounded like a tongue click came into her mind as if in irritation. "Well then if not adrian what about her?" he asked chole. "Who I have no one else." she stated somberly falling further into her shell having nearly lost all will over her own. "Really?" he heard gabriel ask rhetorically before saying "then who's that then?" he asked and almost as if by command her eyes went to the photo in her hand. "She done not count." the girl said almost sleepy the way her speech was becoming more lazy from her lack of will. "Oh and why not?" he asked sounding confused. And chole just shrugged slightly before saying "because she is dead.". The words chloe said wear cold, hollow and blunt but the sad truth that only made her heart hurt more.

However gabriel seemed almost amused when he said "is that it? Is that why you claim she does not count?". She had no idea why he sounded so amused but did not really care anymore but she really did not care anymore. "She's gone she can no longer love me." she stated quietly trying to forget the day of the funeral as it came to mind.

"Well now if that is all what if I told you I have a way to let you see her again?" and those wear the words that got through to the girl. Raising her head quickly in disbelief. Chloe's mouth hung agape slightly unable to believe what she just heard. Only able to stutter something that sounded like 'that's impossible. "Is it." the man said "the ladybug earrings have the power create almost anything. And the black cat ring can destroy anything. I wonder what would happen if you got both together in the same place? Miracles can happen. I mean they are called the miraculous for a reason after all." he said with dramatic pause. Then to let his words sink in more is said the next words far slower. "And they they can do wondrous things...even finding someone who is lost."

Chloe felt like her heart would stop when he said his last line 'could it be true?' she began to wonder 'could her mother truly be alive all this time and simply be. Lost. "yes she is. You can feel it can't you that feeling of knowing." gabriel said and almost on cue she felt a feeling she had not felt in so long. It was the feeling of her mother's warmth. "Good you have noticed. And yes she is still with us she is simply lost in the dark and simply needs a little help to find her way back to you."

Chloe was now once again at the point of tears but not from sadness, depression and longing. But now she felt a tiny chance for happiness was with reach again. "Now then will you help me get the miraculous? Take them from those who would keep the ones we love away from up. And then with the miraculous in my hands I will be able to grant both are dreams. Yours and mine will become reality." he finished his speech leaving him sounding somewhat taxed. "So" the man begin again now listening intently to his words. "Will you help me?" he asked finally

"Just one question." chole said gabriel said nothing but she knew he could hear her. Taking a deep breath to steady herself "will will I really see adrian and mother again?" she said with little emotion having already being pushed so far was left with very little. She heard nothing at first and waited quietly for the man he claimed to be able to help her see the people she love most again.

After what felt like an eternity chloe began to think she never would hear from him again when "With you help when the dust has settled and we have won. You will have your mother behind you again and adrian at your side." he pledged to the girl. And that was all she needed to hear.

Setting the photo down she pulled her hair back onto one side and placed the hair piece into her bang above her right ear. Then it began a black goo like substance started to form around the girl covering her completely till all that remained was a viscous black cocoon. Then if exploded into a flurry of black feathers the turned into dust upon hitting the ground. What remained of the girl was something all its own. Chloe was no longer wearing her pajamas that had not changed in weeks. Instead she wore a elegant black ballet dress with what looked like diamonds dotted around like stars, however there were some changes to note. Unlike the usual right angled Tu Tu chloe's dress flowed down more like a ball gown giving her a more slender and streamlined shape. She hand long gloves and stockings with black feather designs and even wing like appendages in the gloves. Her shoes wear traditional ballet shoes that wear all black with feather decorations on the tops. She also wore a black masquerade mask with silver accents and even more wing like decorations on the sides spreading out. Her hair and skin wear the most striking of all as her hair had turned black and her skin a pale porcelain white.

Looking at her even the most critical would call her stunning despite her excess weight that made her appear unhealthy in such tight cloths. "I guess congratulations are in order." she heard play in her head one more time this time however the words wear for more pleasing to listen to. "Now then black swan we need to get down to business."

And there it was she was no longer chloe in a way she was now black swan agent of gabriel agrest. "Yes gabriel." she said void of an emotion, but even though she spoke none she could not help but feel unbarible sadness in her heart. "I will seek out and take back the miraculous that are being kept away from us." she stated coldly having full submitted to the will of the akuma master.

But gabriel sounded almost amused by this outburst of resolve "patience my dear swan. Being impatient is what got me sent to prison in the first place." he said with a bit of bitterness near the end clearly unhappy with himself. "No" he began again "we will bide our time and wait. We shall gather our forces and then we will strike back." he voiced in her mind making her stand down. Chloe was disappointed even with the the feelings inside her already wanting to see the two people she loved more then anything again. However before long gabriel began to speak of his plans for her. "For now you need to get back in shape. train hard to master yourself and your powers. Second I need information, even with my bribery I have missed out on much while in prison and I need to find out what's been happening" the man requested leaving the girl feeling worthless that she was of no use to her master in her current stat.

That was not all the former soon to be acting villion had to say though "also…the first thing I need to know how my son is doing." he stated making chloe's mouth go dry. He was right she had not heard a thing about the boy in years. So she honestly had no idea what happened. "That will be your first task once you're ready is to find my son. Until then train, study, prepare, and do research for me. You are now my eyes and ears, My mediator, my messenger, my spy. You will not only be the one to tell me all that I request but you will also be my recruiter as well.". This last title baffled black swan "recruiter?" she asked unsure as to how or why she would require anyone. "Ah right." he said as if in realization "suppose I did forget to mention something." he confessed to the girl. "You will not only be my eyes and ears gathering information about important matters, but you will also gather information on people who fit my needs and will become my lieutenants and carry out my orders. This time I will prepare my forces and then and only then will I start my end game".

And now it all made since gabriel lost last time because he only created one akuma at first. and then it was too late for a surprise attack as ladybug and cat noir would notice large numbers of people going missing while he was about. But now he could create several akuma and no one would notice, not even ladybug or cat noir. "As you wish." she said politely to her new master. This seemed to please him greatly "good when next we speak I wish to have all the information you have compiled on what has happened in my absence." he commanded the girl. To which she she replied "yes sir." again proper and polite and without emotion. She heard the voice in her mind go quiet again and assumed he had left now leaving her to follow through with his orders so she would be less of a disappointment.

As she was about to change back into chole how black swan knew this she did not know to which she chalked up to the magic of the akuma. Her eyes then fell back to her computer wear her friend request was having been sent already much to her surprise. However black swan concluded it was when she was flailing about earlier that she hit it. And much to her surprise it had already been accepted.

However what was she to do she had not asked for permission to do this. Then again on the other hand she was ordered to gather information and marinette could help with that. "I think I will keep this relationship going for a bit. You may be useful to gabriel then without warning "Knock,Knock,Knock Miss Bourgeois is everything alright in there? one of the staff said you had screamed are you well?" the butler asked casing her to wonder what took him so long to show up. But she already knew the answer to his question, and if not now soon. "Yes" she answered "i'm perfected now."...

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meanwhile paris high security prison

Gabriel finally broke his trance and opened his eyes beginning to pant slightly. A fresh sheen of sweat on his brow from exertion. Still sitting at the desk he had to brace himself on it to keep from falling over. Having been using telepathy for so long that he swore he would have passed out if he had kept it up any longer. Using so much of his own energy as opposed to that of the miraculous had really taken its toll. Not to mention the amount of energy it took just to wake up the akuma in the first place. And that not counting the fact that the girl was far harder to convince then he first though. Possible because she became resistant from being traumatized before? But that did not matter now he had succeeded and he was now one step closer to his goal, though. "I can not help but feel a little sorry for her." he muttered out loud uncaring as it was not like the guards would even understand. "Still when everything's said and done she will get what she wants out of the deal. After all I am a man of my word." he said have no intention of betrayal as once he had want he wanted he was more then happy to share. deciding for now it would be best to rest so that he would be ready for the next akuma to come. he get up from his seat and went to bed with a hint of genuine joy as things where finally starting to look up for him.

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MASTER FU'S CLINIC

Master fu's eyes opened wide having felt something dark, something evil, But what could it be? Getting up from the lotus meditation position "Master are you alright." he heard beside him. Looking to his right he say wayzz with a worried expression on his face. "Master. Is something wrong?" wayzz suddenly asked and it was clear to fu that his face must have been telling. Going to the window looking out over the dark city he rubbed his chin "I'm not sure." he replied. Closing his eyes a moment to give himself a chance to presses the feeling again before opening his eyes again at the city. "I am not sure wayzz it was almost as if I felt a sudden surge of negative energy then it suddenly disappeared like it was never there." the aged master explained as best he could. Mater fu just groaned in frustration as that in itself was not much information.

"Could it be gabriel again?" he heard wayzz ask as he floated beside him. Turning to his old friend he was about to answer when a high pitch voice interrupted him. "NO WAY." the pair heard casing both to turn to see plagg eating a piece of cheese. Master fu for his part wanted to grown as while he cared for all the kwami plagg most of all even more so the trixx was a pain to deal with. Plagg however did not seem to notice there discomfort and just kept talking "I mean the butter fly brooch is still in the box. And a holder can't use their powers without the miraculous even you know that."CHOMP" the book even says so." the black cat finished as he took yet another freakishly large bite.

While both mater fu and wayzz would like to do a number of things to the misbehaving spirit they both knew he was right. They had all read the book back to front on more than one occasion and it said clear as day that they can only use their powers when in contact with the miraculous. And as they wear in current possession of the brooch as a new holder had yet to be picked it could not have been gabriel. Could it? Making up his mind on the matter master fu spoke "regardless just because it was not hawk moth that doesn't mean that it was not someone else. As there is more than one type of magic in the world. So we had best stay on our guard" he stated as if there was someone using negative magic more often than not it meant trouble.

Plagg however just brushed it off "puff. You worry to much." he said throwing what was left of his chese high planning on catching it in his mouth. "It was probably just adrian." he said while waiting for his last bite. "He probably just woke up and was just flexing his powers to find-". However plagg never got to finish as he just vanished leaving both master fu and wayzz to see a piece of chess hit the floor.

"PLAGG!" the both shouted surprised in unison rushing to the spot plagg was floating. "Master fu picked up the discarded piece of dairy examining it for a clue as to what happened. "Someone must have taken the ring off adrian's hand there is no other explanation." wayzz stated as there was no other way plagg could just disappear. Wayzz then looked to his partner concerned "Master fu?...Master fu" he asked but received no immediate answer. "Him?" the master hummed to himself before looking back to the window "I hope nothing has happened at marionettes house." he said not knowing the reason for the rings removal.

Sighing loudly at how things wear going "It looks like things may get busy again." master fu said sadly tired of needless conflict. But he did not let his resolve falter "untill we know more we should keep an eye on the situation as best we can. And warn marinette for she will want to know so she can be ready for conflict." he stated with much resolve. His partner flouting beside wayzz nodded his head eagerly saying "yes master right away" be for flouting off. wayzz most likely went to get a book on magic so they may identify the source of the negativity. This left master fu alone to watch over the scene of paris. However while normally a breathtaking sight even after all these years he just could not see it today. Sighing again the way things wear going as he hoped that with the brooch back where it belongs it would finally be safe again. Looking from the scene to his miraculous before speaking "I am getting for too old for such activity." he said glumly wondering what he was to do.

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Elsewhere -DUPAN-CHANG RESIDENCE

"A ring?" a kind motherly voice said looking down at a silver band in her hands. She was sitting on the side of the bath cleaning adrian while he slept. Marinette had not come home saying she wanted to check on a friend who was sick. So seeing as she was out she decided to clean adrian before she got back so she would not have worry about it when she got back. But Sabine made a curious discovery as low and behold on adrian's right hand was a silver ring. There was nothing too special about it as there was just a silver band and what looked like an empty mounting for a gem. 'It must be an heirloom of some kind,' she thought to herself holding the deceptively ordinary silver metal.

Shrugging suspension off looking back to her right to see the sleeping form of the blond adrian. She could not help but smile as his form was while tragic quite peaceful reminding her of day's when marinette was young. However that was not getting work done she concluded as she got up and walked over to the sink. The mother put the plug in the sink to prevent an accident then sent the ring on the counter. "I can't imagine why I missed this." she said to know one in particular. "Well I guess I will just have to hold on to it. I would not want the poor boy to lose it or have it get corrode from the water." sabine concluded oblivious to the rings true power as she as she returned to the boys side to finish bathing him. if only she knew what the ring she took for safe keeping really was.

 **Yes I did it it's done. OK in case you guess did not notice this is the end where I talk about upcoming plains and my promise to update as soon as possible. Which I have been neglecting this past few months. Ya thats right I admit it well regardless of my work ethic or lack thereof the next chapter is done and I have to say one of my best yet which you may agree with or not that is up to you.**

 **Either way I am off topic as I need to give the word out on the stuff coming up soon. First off the part with chloe that was intense wasn't it? Bet none of you say that one coming. And if not you can bet you won't see what I have planned for her coming ether. but now that I said that you might see it coming case you know its coming. or would you still not see it coming case you can't see it?... I don't know. Also we are going to have a few more adrian/marinette chapters with some other stuff in between like alya and nino how much is up for debate though as that's not the main point of this story, but there will be more of it. Also I have decided there will be chapters devoted to other supporting characters like alya and nino, or villains like my new one black swan. However that will happen when I think it necessary to help develop their character in the story.**

 **Lastly in case you hadn't noticed hawk moth has finally started his plain and it involves creating several akuma at once. Who the remaining akuma will be? Well I'm just not going to tell you sorry. But they will be very good some more then others for reasons. The story will focus more and more on stopping gabriel as it goes one but for those who want more of the adrian/marinette stuff it will happen. In Fact the next chapter will have basically nothing but that. And for are action friends out there will be some lady/noir action of the crime streets of pairs also what will cat's new suit look like? If he dose have one. try saying that six times fast.**

 **Ok I lied this will be lastly as I think I will do a poll. yes a poll on my akuma. see I already have the first two being black swan and another akuma as well as the last akuma. At least in terms of order in which they become akuma out of the six in case you missed that. But I have not decided on the order of the remaining three so I will give you guys a poll to do. You guys will vote in the comments/review section on which one of my new oc akuma you want to see appear next. The akuma that has the most votes will get picked first. Second place second and third last. And I will give you guys till my next akuma chapter to vote which should be a few chapters from now so you all have time to vote. Also you are only going to get the names of the akuma so you will have to figure out who you want picked based on their names which are themed after their power so wear clear. sorry but I can't give you more information then that as it would spoil the story.  
**

 **And for those who do not want to see then names so it's not spoiled well I will space it out a bit so you don't see them right away just to respect those who do not want spoilers.**

 **if your still reading and don't mind knowing the names your akuma selection is.**

 **1\. Herculeon**

 **2\. Author write**

 **And fianly**

 **3\. Mémoire**

 **Alright there are your three akuma so please tell you who you think you want in let me know and have a miraculous day everyone.**


	9. Chapter Vii awakening

**Meow all my miraculous friends it is I the writer/ narrator. Ok I know the wait for this chapter was cruel and unusual punishment but I hope it was worth it. Also just so wear clear the underlying plot is still in play but this story is primarily about marinette and adrien so most of the chapters are going to be about those two. So while there is an ultimate point to the story it is primarily a love story. Well alright enough talk from me you guys know the drill by now like/fav it you enjoy it if not I hope you had a good time anyway. And enjoy the story.**

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The weather was cloudy today marinette thought as she looked out the window to her room somewhat depressingly. It had been this way for few days now and the weather just kept getting colder and colder. Infected she was half expecting it to snow before too long with how things were going. This weather however only aggravated the already depressing mood however as marinette looked away from the window. she was sitting at the far end of her room by the three windows watching the traffic go by. The blue bell was supposed to be sew a letter onto a shirt for one of her christmas orders, but she had only gotten part way normally she could do this sort of thing finished in less than an hour. Her mind was else wear though and her focus was gone because of it.

Lowering the garment in frustration unable to continue her work as she was too riddled with worry. Leaning back against the wall she let out an exhausted sigh feeling as if weight of the situation was beginning to crush her. Now taking a deep breath to calm down a bit as she turned her head towards her own bed. mind purposefully wondered to the boy that had recently taken up residence in her room.

It had been over a week since adrian arrived at their home and he had not stirred once. He simply stayed in a state of restless sleep. Which was another thing to worry about as while his health was improving his fever had yet to brake. While her mother assured her that his fever was not dangerously high it was still a bad fever. And while she knew that with tiki giving it her all daily it was unlikely that anything could happen. Even if she left as ladybug with her new luck charm skill he would be fine. But with all that she could not help herself but to worry if he would ever wake up.

She knew he would get better or she should have known however no matter how many times she told herself, alya told her, or her parents. she still was unable to stop herself as just looking at the boy he looked sickly as even with all the rich food they had given him he was still as thin as when he arrived.

She wanted to scream. She truly just wanted to let out all her frustration and scream her head off uncaring of the world. But she knew she could not. As not only would it accomplish literally nothing she would only be wasting energy that would be better spent elsewhere. Still even though she knew that it still did not make her feel any better ether. Her previous task left forgotten as she contemplated checking on adrian again to see if his cloth was dry. But on the other hand tiki was watching him and she would probably let her know if it needed to be changed. If she was awake at least.

That was honestly the biggest problem she had, that being she was sitting in her room while her parents worked with noone to talk to. Now she was not one to complain usually but she truly did crave someone else in the room to speak with to help keep her mind from wandering. But with tikki using a lot of her energy to keep adrian healthy she has had to sleep a lot more to keep her reserves up. And that meant she could not count on her partner to be around to converse with.

Alya was also no help as she was super busy with her work and would likely be held up for at least four or five day's. Chloe was also no help as even though she had friended her on social media she had not been able to talk much. As she seemed to finally be turning her life around and began studying and getting back in shape. Now this was fine but it did not leave her much in terms of friends to talk to. Most of her other friends from school wear also pretty busy as well and just did not have time. But also she never did have many friends to begin with. Her classmates wear pretty much the only friends she had, and as most of them ether scattered or wear just busy it left little for her to talk to. At least till the work day ended but as it was only around half past eleven, so that would be a while.

Setting the shirt aside for now deciding that she needed a break to clear her head. so getting up from her spot walking past her-adrian's bed and towards the trap the so she could grab a quick bite to eat. Besides she had been watching adrian like a hawk most of the week and she could use a brake."Tikki I'm going downstairs be back soon" she commented but no answer which meant tikki was probably asleep. He would be fine as she would just be down stairs and be back in like twenty minutes. Besides he had been out cold an way, and as his fever had yet to break it was doubtful that he would wake up anytime soon. so It would be alright to leave him for now. Right?

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Warmth that was the first thing that returned to him, it was faint but there a pleasant warmth that surrounded him. It felt so inviting making him want to re enter to the void of sleep. This did not last long however as his senses began to slowly return. Soon he all too soon before sleep could claim him once again an awful ach entered his body making him groan in pain. And with that he became fully awake because of the pain his body was in.

His body felt unbearably hot now and at the same time soaked from what felt like an ocean of water. Every muscle in his body felt worn and soar like he had run a marathon then ran all the way back to start. His headache relentlessly feeling as though it would be crushed. He then became aware of his throat as it burned like fire casing makinging him whimper slightly. The pain he felt in his body was unbarible making him wish he could just sleep. But that was not an option available to him as the pain was too much. 'Why does everything hurt so much' he wondered trying his best to bare it.

Regrettably he tenderly opened his eyes, but he quickly regretted it forcing them shut as best he could. After a minute though he slowly opened them again only to once again to assaulted by blinding light again making him momentarily wonder if he was dead. But that lasted only a second as if he had died he would feel no pain. However slowly but surely the room slowly came into view but what met his eyes was something far more surprising. Instead of his cardboard cupboard in the back alley he was in a bedroom. But not just anyone's room, this was marinette's room.

Adrian was at a complete loss for words as he saw the room before him as he was in the home of marinette one of his old school friends. After all how could he forget as she was one of the few people who had treated him like a normal person, despite his lavish upbringing. However that still begged the question, what was he doing hear of all places? 'Plagg' was the only word that came to adrians mind for this situation. It had to be his kwami he must have somehow achieved this. Surly plagg knew better then to involve other people in his affairs as he was only putting marinette in danger by staying hear. 'The longer i'm... hear... the more danger she is in' he thought bitterly trying to ignore his aching head. Both he had plagg needed to leave, now.

Looking about the room or what he could see of it that is as he was if his memory served right on a top part a half bunk bed. Half being as there was only one bed with a desk underneath it. But from what he could see in this position plagg was no wear to be seen. 'Wear could that cat have gotten too' he thought irritably half tempted to ring the kwamis neck for this, or he would if his head would stop pulssing in pain.

So opening his mouth a bit parting his dry cracked lips to call for the bad luck spirit. However this was a mistake on adrian's part as the moment he tried to force air through his lunges to speak he began to cough violently. "COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!" they came hard and fast making his lung trob and his already aching body felt like he was dying. He began to mutter 'make it stop, make it stop' in a silent plea. Tears started to fall from his eyes is he hacked up his lunges. Adrian even became vaguely aware of darkness on the sides of his field of vision. Beginning to wheeze as he became increasingly short of breath to the point where he felt as though he would suffocate.

Thankfully his coughing fit soon ended leaving the poor blond gasping for breath taking in as much air as he dared, this was not a lot though as his lungs hurt far too much for any more than a few short breaths at a time. However taking only a small breath at a time was fine as he just did not have the energy left for much else. Adrians poor body was exhausted so much so that he almost forgot he needed to leave before someone else found him. All too soon though the familiar burn in his throat returned to him making him cringe.

Looking around he noticed what looked like a pitcher of water and a empty glass with bowl next to it. Staring at it for a moment before trying to reach for it. At first nothing happened to adrians surprise as he attempted to lift an arm. Trying again to reach for water to sooth his throat and once again nothing happened. Now trying to force his body to move focusing on just moving his hand. After a moment he could feel his fingertips twitch slightly going from there flat position to a more curled one. But that was all he could muster before his body gave protest as his body began to ache even more forcing him to stop.

It was in this moment that adrian realized how helpless he was. His body was too weak to even move and even with flagg's help he would be going nowhere be it as himself or cat noir. Adrian was not sure how long he had been laying in marinettes bed. Ether as he woke up or science he collapsed. Infacted he was not even sure when he collapsed his memory was so hazy 'I went to get food?' he began to wonder as he tried to recall what he remembered last. Soon some of the pieces started to return 'ya I went to get food, then it rained... ' he closed his eyes growing slightly. He could not remember what happened next after it rained. 'Though i have to take a guess,' he began to ponder 'marinette found me.' he thought with a tiny smile remembering the kind girl. This was cut short however as he was hit with a new wave of pain in coursed through his skull. Adrian almost immediately closed his eyes as if to make the pain go away, however it did not work as he was forced to lay unmoving till it passed.

However even through the pain he could make out the faint sound of what might be footsteps coming up the stairs. "Tikki! could are you checking on him?" a girl shouted causing him to wince in pain, while it sounded somewhat muted to him it sounded like it came from below. But what surprised him was that it sounded like marinette, but it sounded much more feminine and deeper then he remembered. But that left a question in his mind despite his headache 'who was tikki?' he had no idea who this was, and while the name sounded familiar he could not place it. Adrian did not have much time to think about it though as the trap door opened. Followed by hurried foot steps as the girl marinette ran through her room and up the stairs to his...her bed. "Hey! you there ti-kki?" she started to say before pausing in sentence as she stared back at him. Her face was that of equal parts surprise and bewilderment as her mouth hung agape, eyes wide as the roundabout road surrounding Arc de Triomphe.

Even with his somewhat off hearing he could her hear stuttering slightly to get words out. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she appeared to be making attempts to speak. This gave adrian time to look at his old friend with his mind swimming uncomfortably he did notice she was wearing what looked like a blue t-shirt that matched her eyes and a pair of gray pants. But that was about all he could make out his mind just unable to process much more. It was then that marinette set something down which adrian only became aware of. The girl then moved over to his left side getting on her knees before asking him a question he honestly did not have the energy to answer. "Are you alright...adrian?"

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Marinette was at a loss having only just recovered from her shock her mind was running at a hundred miles an hour. 'Adrians awake! I can't believe it.' she screamed inside her head. However she quickly shook this off as she needed to check on him, she could freak out later right now she had a job. "Are you alright...adrian?" she asked before patiently waiting for an answer. While she half expected the answer to be something on the lines of 'terrible. Or dreadful' from his disheveled appearance. She needed to wait for his sake as he needed her to work at his speed not hers.

At first adrian did nothing and only seemed to be staring at her as if lost in space aimlessly drifting. Eventually he seemed to take actual notice, at least she thought he did. Then he opened his mouth to speak much to marinettes anticipation. But what came out was not words but merely a garbled scratchy mess out sound, This also seemed to hurt adrian to speak as well. Marinette was now freaking out inside 'freak inside? Freak in?' she was not sure

Either way she was going to ask what was wrong and if he was in pain then. The boy began to turn his head away from her and look of to the side. Following his gaze it looked like he was looking at the pitcher of water she had placed there earlier for adrian to drink. Marinette then realized what he was trying to say 'he's thirsty. He is having trouble speaking because his throat was unbearably dry. "Oh! you want water?" she asked wanting to double check just to be sure. Adrian then looked back towards her with a desperate plea in his eyes before nodding ever so slightly.

Marinette went to task immediately as she quickly took one of the cups from the tray filling about halfway full of water. "Adrian h-" she started but stopped as she mentally slapped herself. Adrian was too weak to move it without help. otherwise he would have poured himself a glass and drank it already without trying to ask for help.

So ignoring the slight confusion in the blonds face she reached an arm behind his head much to his surprise. Marinette could tell there was a hint of panic in adrian with a look of worry in his eyes and his body tensing and moving. But the girl was quick to dispel this "It's alright just relax adrian. You're safe here." she said tenderly using a tone of voice she honestly didn't know she had. reminding her greatly of what her mother sounded like.

Adrian stared back at her for a moment the worry not having left him as he was still tense in her arms (well one arm at least). Then after a moment adrian closed his eyes before taking a slow steady breath then he began to relax his fear leaving his body. Marinette then gave a kind smile hoping it would help him stay calm. The bluenette then raised the boy slowly with one hand as to not case him undue stress. As she lifted adrian though she had to force the pleasant look on her face to remain as worry and surprise filled her. 'He's so frail." she thought silently as she lifted the boy's head with no effort. Even without her enhanced strength she could have lifted him with one arm with how light and weak he was.

Once she got him into more upright resting a leg underneath him to help make him more comfortable. She then brought the cup down to meet his lips to which he parted accepting the cup. She was thankful that he was so responsive given his poor health, but it still made her wonder why he aced the way he did before and why he was so cooperative now. Surely he would be forthcoming with accepting help in his condition. She ignored this however as she began to tip the cup slowly as to let the water trickle into his mouth rather than pore all over him. As he was too weak to even move she doubted he could drink water much less anything else very quickly.

Slowly the water trickled out of the cup and into adrian's mouth, she could tell by the faint way his throat moved as he swallowed. Water soon came dripping over the sides of his mouth around the cup. Seeing she was dripping water lowered the cup stopping the flow of water to adrian before pulling away. Moving the cup a short distance away from adrian's face revealed his tired and somewhat wet face. "Are you alright, do you want me to stop?" she asked adrian who as quick as he could shook his head. "Do you want more water?" marinette asked in response to adrians action. To which the blond nodded again repeatedly clearly desperate for more.

So going with the blonds wishes she gave him more, bringing the cup back to his open lips and tipping to let water flow again. She tipped the cup a bit further this time allowing more water to flow then last time. Marinette cloud see slightly larger streams of water spilling around the lip of the cup. However giving adrian more water was a mistake as a few seconds later he began to cough and sputter as water fell down his windpipe.

Marinette honestly freaked out as adrian began to convulse violently in her arms sending water about some of which struck her in the face. Marinette did not know what to do, if he was fully healthy she would just pat his back. But this, this was something she did not know how to handle as what if she hit to hard and broke on of his bones. Or what if she moved him in a position he could not breath and he suffocated, what if, what if. She thought beginning to panic but noticed a second later with the lack of noise. looking down at arian who had stopped convulsing (thank goodness) but seemed rather tired now.

There was large amounts of water spilt over not only himself but also his blue pajama shirt that he was wearing. There was also water stains on the blankets aswell and even herself. Her shirt was covered in water and she could feel it on her skin. But she needed to ignore that as she would dry off in a few minute but adrian would take weeks to recover.

Laying the boy back down on his back, he coughed a few more times but she figured he was just clearing that last of the water from his throat. After putting the somewhat wet blanket back over him knowing it would need to be swapped for a dry one used a washcloth to dry him off. Once finished she moved back a bit to take stock of her charge, and it was not good. While he was awake now and seemed to be responsive he was still too weak to move more then his head. This meant that he would be fully dependent on her help and her parents if he was to survive. While this was not a problem as they would be more then happy to aid him. But it still meant that adrian would need constant tending and care to make sure he was alright till he got his strength back.

She was brought out of this when she heard a groan of discomfort below her. Looking down at adrian she could see it on his face that he was uncomfortable making her worry. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder "Adrian are you alright?" she asked but received no answer but persistently tried again "adrian…(nothing) adrian. Adrian listen to me!" she demanded somewhat more forcefully. Adrian seemed to respond to this sharper tone though marinette did feel slightly guilty for this. Adrian looked to marinette with those green eyes again making her feel slightly warm in the cheeks. Shaking her head to remove such thoughts as she went back to task. "Adrian" she said again making sure she had the boy's attention, "does your throat hurt?" she asked. Almost immediately she got an answer as instead of trying to talk he simply nodded.

This basically confirmed what marinette suspected with how much he wanted water adrian had a severe swollen throat. This meant that he ether did not want to talk because it hurt to much or he could not speak at all; to which she hoped it was the former rather than the later. Thinking about this the girl needed help as she had no experience in medicine aside from a common cold. "I need ma'mas help" she muttered to herself. While she was reluctant to leave him now that he just woke up but she needed to not only let them know he was awake, but she would also need help to treat him as she had no idea what to do. Making up her mind she spoke "adrian." she started once again getting the boys attention, "Adrian I need to get my ma'ma she will be able to help." she spoke softly trying not to aggravate the boy's probably throbbing head more the way he was wincing. The boy had a panicked look on his face once she said this clearly not liking the idea of her leaving his breathing also became more rapid and labored.

Seeing this she increased pressure on his shoulder "Adriean please listen" she started but was ignored by adrian who was in the early stages of a panic attack. Seeing this caused her to grit her teeth in frustration then "ADRIAN WOULD YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!" she shouted. Adrian breathing hitched at hearing this his eyes wide from surprise. Marinette herself was also surprised having never almost never raising her voice at anyone.

Marinette took a breath to steady herself having gotten worked up remembering she needed to remain calm. "Adrian you need to calm down. You're only going to make yourself sicker if you don't relax. Alright?" she finished with her question hoping she got through to him. After a moment of adrian's mini panic attack and marinette trying to calm him his breathing slowed down as he relaxed. A look of recognition on his face as he looked at back at her told her he now understood. Marinette smiled nodding to herself glad she got through "Good" she started to speak to adrian now that he was listening. Pausing for a moment in thought of what to say before continuing. "Listen I need to get my ma'ma from down stairs in the bakery. Then I will be right back with her." she explained in slow detail as to make sure he heard all of it.

It took a minute but eventually adrian weakly nodded in agreement, though she could not shake the feeling so she would come back faster. But ignored this as she got up and headed towards the stairs to her bed. Walking down she looked back one more time at adrian who was staring back at her. "I'll be right back." she said tenderly before proceeding down the stairs to get her mother. As she once again opened the trap door to her room she began to wonder why she was acting the way she was around adrian. She had always been a kind person but she had never had she shown such, well what she could only describe as a motherly instinct. It felt weird that was for sure. But at the same time she also could not ignore it either. Shaking her head vigorously 'what is the matter with me?' she wondered to herself honestly not sure what was wrong with her. The feeling of care and tenderness she had around adrian was foren something she never felt before around him. So why now? Sighing in frustration she decided she would ask her ma'ma or tikki about later. "Speaking of which" she said as she now set foot on the living room floor "I need to get her to check on adrian." she commented out loud as she proceeded out of the house and down to the bakery below.

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Adrian was quite surprised, when marinette appeared in front of him if it wear possible his breath would have been taken away more so then it already was. While marinette just stood there he was able to take in a bit of her detail. And despite his muddled mind from his throbbing head he knew it was breathtaking. She he gotten quite beautiful over the years, at least he thought she did anyway. But as it stood with his fever and with how he was living anything that was not covered in dirt would look appealing to his eye's right now.

So when she went to his side leaning next to him while he wanted, no needed to leave. He also could not deny that she made him feel so much better just being near by. It reminded him so much of something, but he could not remember what that something was and his headache was only making worse. Giving up on trying to remember, especially when he heard what sounded like (you alight?). At first he only thought about the question was he? His head hurt so much though it was hard to say, but if he head hurt that much that would mean no.

Opening his mouth to answer he tried to tell her what hurt, however the moment he began to try speak pain corsed through his throat. It was then immediately reminded of how much it hurt to speak as not only did he only managed to croak about as well as a dying frog. The amount of pain that even trying to speak cased was almost literally breathtaking to the poor boy. He needed water, no he prayed for water his throat burned so badly right now as he gazed upon his desired want. So when he heard the girl ask "Oh! you want water?" he almost did not believe it as everything sounded so muted. Regardless he gave her the best looked of begging he could his pride now lost. And using as much strength as he could nodded.

His neck was stiff and slow to move but he managed to accomplish a small nod, which given how weak and tired he was was a major accomplishment in his mind. However thankfully he seemed to get the message across as a moment later he watched lazily as she get a cup from the tray next to him. He continued to watch as best he could while trying to keep his eyes open as she poured water into said cup. Then when she was done she put the pitcher down before holding the glass in both hands with one around the glass and one on the bottom.

She then began to move the glass towards him before starting to say " adrian h-" but saying but stopped. Adrian honestly had no idea what was going on 'was she going to give me water? Or...' he began to wonder confused by her actions. but almost yelped if possible when he felt an arm go around under his head. He was not sure what was going on all he knew was he did not like it, a wave of nausea hit him making his head hurt even more to wear he forgot about his throat. He began to squirm under marionettes grip. Not only did he not like the swimming in his head nor did he like- no he especially did not like the fact that he could not move under his own power. Even in his weakened state it was both embarrassing and infuriating to be so weak and depended he is or was a superhero, not an involute.

But he quickly stopped his struggling when marinette gave her a firm yet tender "It's alright just relax adrian. You're safe here.". When he heard her say this he just froze in place, he could feel the stiffness his body was in. but he could not help but stare as even in his current state he could remember vary clearly the last time someone talked to him that way. Well, was his mother. Closing his eyes taking a few breaths to slow his the beating of his sore chest. But when he opened them his vision was hazy his mind becoming clouded again so when he opened his eyes he saw the face of someone he never thought he'd see again.

It was his mother his mother was right in front of him holding him in her arms like when he was young. It was not possible, it couldn't be, And yet here she was tending to him. He would smile if possible and hugged her to but he was too tired for that. Instead he relaxed in the arms of who he thought was his mother after all she was the only person he ever fully trusted above all even ladybug. So when she raised him up higher for water he gave no protest finally starting to feel comfortable in the situation.

If adrian had been himself he would have known that his mother was gone and that he was in the presence of marinette. But with his body worn down and his mind dulled one of his best friends became the one person he had longed to see most of all. And he could not have cared less as just the vary image of his mother helped him. As marinette brought the cup to his lips he opened the compliantly as he blindly basked in his mother's appearance. And when the cool water finally hit his lips he was in heaven adding to his delirious state of mind. Completely blissfully uncaring even as water trickled down his face and chin.

However when the woman in front of him pulled away he wanted to complain because as soon as the flow of water stopped the pain returned to pledge his throat once again. He looked up lazily his vision having become a bit clearer the water seemed to help a bit but not by much. However again to his annoyance the water stopped, but his annoyance was quelled when her heard his mother voice say "Are you alright, do you want me to stop?" she asked him politely. Adrian could not be mad though how could he? Instead he simply shook his head as his answer, this seemed to prompted a swift reply from his mother as only a few seconds later she asked "Do you want more water?" which he quickly nodded in response.

With in seconds just like that he could feel the cup return to his lips and he drank from it greedily once again paying no mind to the water that spilled on him. He only cared about to things now reliving his sore throat and staying in his mother's arms. As the water flowed into his mouth at a greater pace he drank it down as quickly as he could. Unfortunately unknown to marinette as he drank his sore and swollen throat could not keep up with the amount being given to him. And all too soon he when some of the water hit the back of his throat he could contain it no longer. The moment a single drop hit his windpipe his gag reflex hit him casing a powerful and painful coughing fit.

With each and every reflex of his abdomen reeled in pain causing him to forget everything else, with each cough it felt to him like his stomach would be ripped apart. For several painful seconds that felt like hours his body reflexively trying to get the water out of wear it did not belong. He did not know how long this continued just that he was in a constant pain from the contractions of his abdominal muscles. But eventual his coughing fit stopped leaving him drained and exhausted wanting nothing more than to sleep in his mother's arms. It had been so long since he felt this safe and he did not want it to end. But soon the burning in his throat returned making despite the pain want more water to make it go away.

He was so tired now so much so that he almost did not notice the feeling of movement in him. marinette who to adrian looked like his mother was laying him back down to rest before feeling the blanket being tucked around his neck. Even with though he could not suppress a groan of discomfort at how unpleasantly warm and damp he felt. A moment later he became aware of a presser on his shoulder but paid it no mind. Then a few moments later "Adrian listen to me!" he could hear a slightly distorted voice the did not sound like his mother which frightened him slightly him. However his fears wear alived when he opened his eyes to see his mother, but 'why is her hair shorter and darker' he thought as his mind was slow to process this information. These thoughts were quick to derail when his mother (really marinette) said "adrian." him bask in her beauty. Then she continued a moment later with "does your throat hurt?". And no sooner did she ask did he nod his head as by this point it became quite clear he could not speak.

He waited in silent suffering as she just watched the girl-no his mother's form think about something to herself. After several seconds of mostly nothing the gi- no, no his mother turned her gaze back to him. "Adrian" she started to follow up a moment later "Adrian I need to get my ma'ma she will be able to help.". This cased his body to tense 'no, no, no." his mind screamed internally 'no she can't leave. Please don't leave me alone again.'. Adrians mind was racing now 'no she could not leave not again' he mind fought completely ignoring her words to him. And for that matter he did not have a grandmother as both the parents of his own parents ether died on his mother's side, or disowned them on his father's side.

Adrian at this point was spinning out of control his heart rate increasing dangerously ignoring anything that was being said. He could not think straight anymore he needed, he needed, and then "ADRIAN WOULD YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!" in surprise he practically stopped breathing his eyes opening wide practically forgetting her tired state moments before. Everything seemed to slow down for a minute, his eyes while opened wear still hazy and unable to see clearly but he could see clear enough and hear well enough. He could hear his, mother? Taking a deep breath beside him and for some reason he did the same relaxing a bit lowering his breathing rate. After a few moments her heard his mother starting to speak again and now she had his full attention. "Listen I need to get my ma'ma from down stairs in the bakery. Then I will be right back with her.". Adrian even being impaired as he was was confused by her words though 'grandmother? Bakery? What is she talking about?'.

But then the realization hit her she was leaving him, 'No she couldn't, she wouldn't, she can't just leave me alone.' he was tired so tired of being alone yet he had to. Everyday there was a chance that he could be found out and that happened his friend would be in danger. So every day he forced himself to stay away from them to protect them. But now the one person he so desperately wanted to be with was right in front of him. He wanted to pretest despite the pain he felt but did not as even with his current lake of wisdom knew better. After a short break decided that given his current state he had to let her go as the sooner she left the sooner she would return to him

So coming to this conclusion (I'll be it slowly) nodded his as best he could with as much strength he had left. His vision by this point was even more clouded than before as he had with his illness used up most of his energy and was starting to doze. But he was vaguely aware of a "I'll be right back." which sounded heavenly to him. A moment later he could hear footsteps going away from him, then coming closer seconds later he could hear what sounded like the trap opening then closing just as quickly. And now he was finally alone.

Within seconds of his mother leaving he could feel his eye creep close and his mind clouded over. But he was still awake and together enough to feel the pain of being alone. All his life he had someone with him, his mother when he was young, his assistant and staff when his mother passed away, and plagg when he became cat noir. All his life there was someone ether with him or near by him that all he had to do was utter a word and there someone was... But now he was truly alone, no plagg, no staff or his assistant, and now his mother was gone again. Being alone was terrifying never had he felt this was, this emptiness. Despite being sick, despite the pain he felt, despite everything that had been happening or had happened. He had never been more scared in his whole life.

All he wanted now was for his mother to return so he would no longer be alone. All he knew for sure was that he never wanted to be alone ever again. Thankfully for adrian a blessing in disguise in the form of sleep came as his eyes became to heavy to keep open. With his eyes closed his mind began to drift towards sleep freeing him for a short while of the pain. But before he could go completely to sleep he uttered one last thought 'when she...re-turns...we...we will...be together….ag...ain.' before finally falling to sleep.

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Sabine and tom wear down stairs attending to customers as always being a very busy day in the bakery. As usual tom was doing all the actual backing while sabine handled the customers. Speaking of which tom had just pulled a sheet tray out of the oven unsuspecting of a blue haired girl busting through the doors. Both girl and man let out a startled cry with both parties only just avoiding impacting each other.

Marinette for all her grace she had gain almost fall backwards into the room she just left from while her father only just saved the tray of treats. "OH I'M SO SORRY!" marinette blurted out in panic having pulled herself out of the doorway and back into the bakery's kitchen. Thankfully tom was used to this and recovered far better than marinette did as this not the first time this had happened. Tom returning to a more natural position merely smiled back towards the girl "it's alright, no harm done." he remarked humorously (he was definitely used to this). Marinette could not believe herself she had been so good at keeping her clumsiness under control. Was she really that bad without tikki around? 'Ugh what is the matter with me? This is my old self my new self is not this clumsy.' she though internally with self loath.

However these thoughts were quickly shuffled aside when tom walked up to her and said "so where's the fire?" he asked. This had an undesired effect however as marinettes eyes opened wide with shock and surprise "fire! Wear?!" she asked alarmed going into hero mode as she looked around the room. Tom however just chuckled nervously because of the girls reaction. "Ok, what has you all wound up?" he asked tentatively not wanting to case a bigger misunderstanding. After a few moments marinette figured out what her pa'pa meant 'get it together' she mentally kicked herself for her foolishness. But her face did not betray these feelings as she answered his question the real question though he was not ready for her answer.

"Its adrian" the blue bell broke out "he's awake, I mean truly awake. I need to get ma'ma to check on him to see how he is doing." she managed to get out in a near unlegible hurry. Thankfully tom was able to put the pieces together when she said adrian and awake from the girls rushed words. Tom was visible take off guard by her words eye's widening in disbelief at his daughter's words. Almost immediately after his mind finished processing the information he set the tray down on a nearby counter. Tom then walked towards the door to the shop area before looking back to marinette who was impatiently wondering what he was up to as she needed to get her ma'ma. "Wait here." tome finally said after a moment making marinette open her mouth in protest. Tom however cut her off as he said "I'll go get her you stay here we don't need only seeing you acting suspicious if there are customers." the big french backer said to her.

Marinette once again wanted to protest but after a few seconds shut her mouth thinking better of it. Tom was right she realized she was a mess and was in no condition to go out with customers, not with how frantic she was infected it was taking everything she had to keep from being reduced to a stuttering wreck. And if she went out wear people were, especially people who may ask questions that she did not have fabricated answers for... well she did not want to think about the possibility. So siding with tom probably better judgment nodded back to him as she did not trust her tongue at the moment. This was all he needed to see before leaving to get his wife, her ma'ma.

Standing in the bakery's kitchen marinette did not have to wait long for her pa'pa to get her ma'am. within a few seconds of tom leaving she could hear him talking to her ma'ma. Thankfully she could hear everything going on well enough. "Sabine would you mind helping marinette with something in the back?" he asked her ma'am. Her ma'ma was quiet for a moment making marinettes nerves flare, but she remained patient. As as patient as she could as she desperately wanted to adrian to make sure he was alright.

A few seconds later thankfully she heard "alright I will go help her." she said somewhat discreetly no doubt having caught on to the nature of the statement. "Would you please cover for me while i'm gone?" sabine asked. "No problem I can handle thing shear for now, just go take your time." tom said pleasantly but marinette could tell it was forced as he seemed quite concerned about adrian when he left.

After a few more seconds of both her parents exchanging there thanks marinette watched impatiently as her mother finally appeared as casual as possible through the door to the baking area. Once the door closed however sabines demeanor changed completely as her expression quickly became serious. "Now then marinette whats going on?" she asked in a matter of fact way as she only knew that it involved adrian from what marinette overheard. Forcing herself to take a deep breath to relax said "adrian woke up." she managed to get out her self control fading, as she wanted to return to check on adrian. So we need to get back and check on him.

However what happened next took marinette by complete surprise. Sabine just raised a hand to her head and rubbed her temples before saying, "marinette." she started getting into nervous reck of girls attention. "If you wanted me to check on adrian…" she said pusing for some reason making marinette wonder what she was up to. Then a few seconds latter "why didn't you just call me and ask me to come to you?" sabine asked. Making marinette jaw hit the floor and then "SLAP!"

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A few minutes after the pair left the bakery sabine along with marinette with a self inflicted handprint on her forehead wear sitting next to a now sleeping adrian. Looking at the sweat soiled adrian as small wet spots in his pajamas and blanket could be seen making it clear that his fever had yet to break. However what worried marinette the most was that he was out cold, again. Casing her to fear that he may stay this way for another few weeks.

Looking up towards her ma'ma she was about to ask what they should do opening her mouth to to speak. But sabine held her hand in front of her face cutting her off from speaking out. Being forced to silently observe she watched as her mother looked adrian over for what felt like the umteanth time. However she counted her self among patent people so thanks to all of tikkis coaching she would try to control herself.

Speaking of the little red spirit when they first got to her room she had to quickly scoop up the little kwami so her ma'ma would not see her. Getting tikki safely tucked away was a bit nerve wracking thankfully she did not notice. Though now all she hoped was that tikki would not suddenly wake up and case a huge fuse as to why she is in a pocket.

She was brought out of these thoughts however when she saw sabin lifting adrian up off the bed a bit. Marinette watched with curiosity as her mother worked not sure what she was trying to do. That was when she noticed something her mother was doing, she was gently nudging the boy's head with her hand. At first she thought she may be trying to wake him up as she examined his face. But then noticed that even though adrian seemed to be out his eyes wear moving.

That was what her ma'ma was watching for adrian might have been asleep but his eyes moved a bit every time he was nudded. This meant that adrian was not asleep, well at least not fully. "Adrian" marinette heard her mother say as she continued to watch her work.

Sabine continued to gently nudge adrian head a bit to try wake him, to help with this she also tried to speak with him, "adrian I need you to wake up" she said calmly. Nothing he stayed quiet seemingly taking no notice of the mother's words much to marinette's dismay. Sabine however persisted undeterred as she continued to speak to the boy. "Come on adrian." she started gently shaking the boys shoulder and head, "Adrian please wake up." she requested from him still with no response. Again she tried "Adrian dear please wake up for me I know you can do it." sabine said with more encouragement this time.

This time however adrian began to grown with a slow and low pained sound. His eyes did not open as clearly adrian now just wanted to sleep likely still too tired to do much else. But with sabines encouragement was at least responsive when she talked to him "adrian. Can you hear me?" she asked slowly. At first there was no answer from adrian making marinette silintly wonder if he was even awake. But sure enough after a few seconds he slowly nodded his head in response to sabines words.

Marinette despite the situation smiled she couldn't help it, this was adrian who only a bit over a week or so ago was practically on his deathbed. But now even though he could not stay awake for long he was waking up and that meant he was recovering. Still marinette still could not suppress the nagging worry in her heart as even though he was getting better he still had not recovered.

Still it was better than nothing and she would take this over nothing anyday. 'Though' she thought pulling her hand which she had placed down on the blanket in front of her face. It was wet and it was not from water. Looking down she observed the sweat stains on it which made her grimince at the prospect. It was clear that both the sheets and blankets needed changing again even though they had just done this a few days ago. And while the idea of sleeping on a bed that had been sweated on so much did disturb her a bit 'I mean who would not be slightly grossed out at the thoughts of sleeping on something that has been dirtied.'. But at the same time she never blamed adrian for it as it was not his fault, (Though that did not mean she would not clean her bed throughly after he was able better). What worried and amazed her was how much as she was surprised they could keep him hydrated enough to keep from drying out like a raisin.

Still that was not the part that made her worry as while that was something she could remedy on her own. There was the fact that adrian in all likelihood still could not move, meaning when it came down time to. "Gulp!" bath him. It would require him to be in the tube and most likely now that he was somewhat lucid...awake. While they 'oh my!'.

Her face got red at the idea of a continuous adrian watching her as she washed him. It would not be so bad if he was a girl (just saying). But still just the thought of touching a bare chested adrian sick or not, to clean him was almost to much to bare. He face heated up and to be honest she started feeling faint at just the idea of giving adrian a bath. 'Lets not forget if ma'am busy or gone I will have to carry him. Pa'pa won't be any help as he's always too busy with the bakery this time of year. And even if he wasn't he can be clutsier then I am at things that require venes that are not baking. Meaning I would have to go and give him a bath myself and, and!, AND!'

"Marinette!" her mother said in a slightly raised voice getting the girls attention towards her mother who was staring back at her. Looking down she noticed adrian in her lap and this time he looked like he had fallen asleep again. However her mother on the other hand looked a bit upset with her. "Marinette you need to stop doing that if you want to help this poor boy." she said suddenly in a slight accusing tone. While she did not like it when a finger was pointed at anyone she had to admit she had this one coming. "Um." she started hesitantly "what did you want?" feeling somewhat nervous as she asked.

Her mother just stared at her a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh, "if you had not spaced out you would have heard me ask you to get the medicine I made using your great grandmothers recipe for adrian's thoat." she apparently restated annoyed.

Marinette on the other hand upon hearing this almost gagged from distant and horrible memory. She knew exactly which home remidy her ma'ma was talking about and she did not like it. The noxious remedy made her want to throw up just from the memory of how awful it tasted. Infected just the small never mind the taste was lethal. What made it all worse was the fact when you throat burned you begged for the remedy because it worked, in facted it worked better than the store bought stuff.

Marinette let out a loud grown of discomfort at the thought of even being near the stuff "are you sure its.." she began to ask but was cut off. "Now" her mother demanded of her not wanting any more delays casing marinette to grown again. Marinette wanted to protest but sided against it "alright." she said in surrender, 'Ahh I hate that stuff.' she thought drearily. Getting up and descending down from the stairs to get the vomit potion as she used to call it when she was a child for how bad it was.

As she walked down her stairs from her bed and towards a familiar trap door in the floor (hay that rhymes.). However as she left one thing that was she felt was self loath at her actions. While true having to take care of adrian now that he was awake...kinda, Was embarrassing her to know end as he would need help with basically everything. Opening the trap before climbing down the stairs before her as she continued to ponder. The fact of the matter was that it did not matter he needed her now more than ever. 'Also I should honestly feel sorry for him as I can't imagine that he will feel to comfortable with…"gulp" someone washing him like an infant. In fact he might find it more embarrassing then I will.' She thought red faced at the idea of imagining herself in adrians position of being completely dependent on others.

As she walked into the kitchen and begin looking for the remedy her mother somehow made without her noticing somehow. Thankfully or unfortunately depending on how you look at it it would not be hard to find as its odder would give it away. However as she did so began to have her mind wander a bit again. Namly what would happen with adrian once he was better. After all with a little luck, or lucky charm help adrian would be cured of his illness within another week or two. But his body on the other hand would take months.

Adrian from what she saw last time looked to weak to even stand on his own with how little muscle mass he had, Which was very, very bad. And in her mother's words would take months of a good diet and exercises to build it back up again. That basically means that even once he recovers he still would not have recovered and would need help just getting around much less anything else.

Her mind was brought back when she smelled something vary familiar and also equally unpleasant. She immediately knew she had found what she was looking for as before her she saw a single jar of similar to an old sauce bottle that he ma'ma did not throw away. And judging from the smell it was cleaned and reused for a different purpose. Reaching out for it she brought it up to her face ready to open the cap as unfortunately she would need to double check its contents...just in case.

Just as she was about to open it though a squirming feeling could be felt in her pocket. Looking down just in time to see a red head pop out from her pocket in quite a frenzied manner. "Ah I'm being crushed." the spirit exclaimed loudly surprising marinette slightly. "Sorry tikki." she said in response to the spirits words as tikki got free and floated in front of marinette's face. "Marinette" the little spirit said after regaining composure "what were you thinking putting me in there. I could have gotten seriously hurt." the kwami complained to the bluebell who stood before the female spirit.

Marinette rubbed her head laughing nervously to her friend from the act she inadvertently performed. "Sorry tikki...again" she confessed deflated by her friends words lowering her head in shame. Marinette then heard a sigh from tikki before the spirit said "it's alright marinette I forgive you." the kwami. Marinette then raised her head to see tikki giving her a so what forgiving smile.

Tikki's concentration was broken however when she noticed the bottle that marinette was holding. "What's that?" she asked looking at the bottle with suspicion to which she could not blame her for. "Its medicine for adrian." she answered finally opening the bottle to check its content. Really?" tikki commented looking at the now open bottle, "you sure it's safe?" she asked a moment later. Marinette just laughed unable to contain herself her friend having broken the serious mood a bit making the girl feel better. "Yes tikki its safe." she said humorously being greatly amused by the kwami. Tikki then did the unthinkable and went to smell the medicine only to immediately real back. "Ahk! It burns! I can even taste it!" tikki exclaimed in shock sticking her tounge out in disgust from the smell. To which marinette had to force her self not to laugh so her ma' ma would not hear. Instead she simple caped the bottle rubbing the head of the little spirit before saying "oh tikki"

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

Marinette returned shortly after tikki flew off she returned to her mother who was struggling to keep adrian lucid. sat across from her mother on adrians left side waiting for instruction while sabine sat on his right. She watched as her mother filed a spoon full of the foul medican making the young women wonder how her great mother came up with this recipe. And how she discovered that the the stuff actual worked, as it was not the placebo effect as her great grandmother and even her mother had used it on people who had no idea it was medicine even.

Once the spoon was full she put the bottle down capping it with one hand before looking over to marinette. "Please help me keep his mouth open. We need to make sure that he drink it all. It should help make him be more comfortable." she confidently stated though there was a bit of uncertainty. And marinette could see why as she knew all too well what that stuff tasted like

So seeing as how there was no alternative she moved to sit behind adrians head before raising his head into her lap. Once done she attempted to ask adrian to open his mouth, "adrian please I need you to open you mouth for us." she said but no response a recurring theme that was beginning to annoy her. But she would remain level headed and persisted "adrian please." she said again far mor gently and with far more tenderness. "Please open your mouth." she asked once more hoping she would not have to force him to not wanting to injure him.

Thankfully he responded this time opening his mouth just wide enough to let the spoon in for which marinette was grateful for. Looking over to her mother she saw her sabine taking the spoon and reading the contents to be given. After a moment sabine moved closer to administer the treatment. However once she got it close to his mouth his nose wrinkled heavily casing his mouth to close and turning his head away. Marinette though was not having any of it so while she might feel bad about it latter... but decided it was for the best. So using one hand to force his head in a better position. Then regretfully plugged his nose.

"Marinette!" her mother exclaimed but marinette ignored her mother's words simply watching adrians face. His face contorted from disgusted to discomfort his closed eyes wincing while letting out muffled groans. Then finally his mouth opened with a gasp and in the instant sabine placed the spoon in his mouth.

Almost immediately adrian's face did yet another change as he tried to spit out what had just been placed in his mouth. The hand that was pinching adrians noise now quickly went to his mouth to to keep it closed. And while weak she could feel what little remains of his muscles tighten in reaction to his new medication. While seeing a boy with a girl holding his mouth shut while also having a spoon still in his mouth might sound funny...well given the contexted it marinette did not find it so amusing. 'Hopefully he is too out of it to remember any of it when he wakes up.' she hoped sightlently as if he did she did not want to think about it, as she already felt bad enough already.

Soon his struggling stopped as he was forced to swallow the liquid and after about another minute after that marinette let go of his face, allowing sabine to remove the spoon while also allowing adrian to rest unimpeded. With adriene now resting somewhat peacefully with the mother daughter pair finished their work.

The pair sat there for a few minutes and as time went on they watch as adrian expression softened from his earlier disgust slipping back into sleep. As his breathing normalized marinette noticed that he seemed to be breathing a lot easier than before so clearly the medicine was working. Thankfully marinette knew that the effects would last for a least a day so he would be fine for a while. Marinette then looked over to her mother who was now screwing the cap back on the bottle. She could not hide her slight disgust for the brew the only condolence she had was that it was tea and herb based so at it was using genuine remedies.

Looking back to her ma'ma she seemed unreadible which made her wonder if she was still a bit upset by her method of getting adrian to take his medicine. But after a minute her face changed to one of releaf. She then looked back to her before speaking "he should be fine now for the time being. I also looked him over his throat is swollen so I don't think he will be speaking for some time." her mother said calmly. Hearing these words though seemed to confirm marinette fears though. This meant that he ether had or had something similar to laryngitis, an illness that she knew prevented the one inflicted with it from speaking for days.

Though even though she knew laryngitis was temporary she couldn't help but wonder "I hope he will feel better". Sabine looked back at her with a baffled look on her face. Then after a few seconds her face softened placing a hand on her shoulder "oh marinette" she said to her you have asked this question before and my answers is the same. With your help I have no doubt he will get better it will just take time".

Sabines words did life marinette up a little bit but it still did not fully appease her as marinette continued. "Maybe he will get better." the girl started looking between the boy before her and her mother, "but I'm more worried about how he will feel once he is better." she said dismally worried that adrian might get mad at her looking away as she thought this. She then felt her mother rubbing her shoulder, looking over to the aged woman who gave her the loving smile she had always given her. "Then we shall help him recover from his mental wounds as well." she said with pride.

Marinette could feel her eyes dampen slightly as she enveloped her mother in a big hug. This whole ordeal had been a huge burden on her mind for days so to hear such loving support was a great relief to her. Giving another hard squeeze "thanks ma'ma" she said only to receive an equally strong embrace from sabine in return.

After the broke apart sabine told her that should would return down stairs to check on tom aswell as the store and would come back up periodically to check on adrian. She also made sure to remind marinette that if she needed help to use the phone much to marinette's embarrassment. This left her alone once again but at least she would have her ma'ma dropping in no and then till tom was finished backing for the day. Then she would join her so the could decide how they should proceed with adrian. While it was not a subject she was thrilled to discuss it was by far better than being left with no one to talk to. So with new found hope she was just left with wondering how long it would be till adrian woke up next.

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Else wear in paris another girl this one blonde wearing a dark casual dress sitting front of a computer screen with a somber look on her face. While she sat typing on the computer with two internet pages open at once one having online schooling. The other any and all important political, financial, diplomatic, and social information on it. Ever since the telepathic meeting with her new master gabriel she had been quite busy. She already had amassed a large amount of information on almost everything going on in and around france. And she was more than ready to deliver this information when next her master contacted her.

She herself had also being working hard to get back in shape it was coming slow. but once her body got back into the swing of things she would commit more time to training and testing out her new powers. For now she would be patent and build her self up slowly, so when she was ready she could bring down the hammer on ladybug, fast, and hard. Her fist clenched slightly as a small ember of anger and revenge built in the void of her empty sad heart. But this was short lived as the void returned leaving her empty once again. This made her long for the day that she would finally be reunited with adrian and her mother, to finally have the void filled forever.

Switching gears she moved to open another page on a separate window wear she was looking at possible candidates for her new teammates. Her fellow lieutenants. She had with a little practice and research managed to hack into the national database of both domestic and criminal. The military side of things was going to take much longer however at least a week two a month if she did not want to get caught. But she would be patient.

However finding those who would server under her monster was proving problematic. The problem was not finding individuals as she had a database to choose from. The real problem was without any idea of what gabriel wanted in his lieutenants. So without any true idea of who would be an ideal candidate for her master she was left aimlessly searching. Though she would not have to wait long as by this time next month she was sure to be on the hunt.

Till then, till the day when her master contacted her she would continue to prepare everything her master asked. She would be ready so that when the akuma came to seek out its host she would guild it to the one destined to receive gabriels blessing. And when the day comes that everything was set and the day came. She would be there to see her mother again….

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 **WOW THAT WAS LONG!. ok well now this was by far the most difficult one to do that for sure. Sorry if the quality was slipping near the end. Well I again have no excuses either way next chapter will contain more of adrian recovering and the story will have little to do with gabriel for now. Also in case you are wondering I am in the process of fixing and rewriting some areas of my first few chapters, it's just taking a while and I did not want you to wait for the next chapter. Either way hope you all liked it I hope to hear your comments in the reviews I love reading them as they give me strength and have a wonderful day.**


	10. Chapter viii seven day

Hello my readers. Thanks again for all your patience in waiting for this up date. I will keep this as short as I can. But ya. Anyway thanks everyone for tuning in again and sorry for the long wait, but I think it will be worth it as this chapter is quite a doozy as its nearly forty pages in length. I would have had it out soon or rather I would like to have had it out sooner but we myself included don't always get things done as fast as we want them too. And for those wanting the plot to pick up well this is the last chapter before things heat up and to a light extent it heats up in this chapter. But also this chapter will have a fair amount of character interactions so there is that for development.

Any way I promised to keep it short and I will. So without further adue please enjoy this chapter I have laid out for you and thank you all for waiting. Please enjoy and have a wonderful day.

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Chapter eight seven days before disaster

thursday

It was early morning in paris with bright morning sun finally beginning to penetrate the dense could layer that covered much of europe. It was around nine am as and breaking from tradition a certain blue haired parisian girl had woken up early...for once. Marinette the youthful and positive hope bringer of paris, also known by her alter ego ladybug.

Marinette was not a morning person vary early even getting up much less out of bed before nine on a good day. Which was part of the reason why she had so much trouble getting to school on time even before she became lady bug. So unless it was necessary she really got up before which was fine with her as she usually worked late of her fashion projects. So with this in mind one might ask why she was up so early having already gotten dressed in a blue shirt with the kanji lucky on with with matching blue pants. Well she was delivering breakfast.

Walking up the stairs to her room tray in hand with a rich bowl of creamed rice and meant that her mother had made from the family and especially adrian. Which he would likely need to put the meat back on his bones. Speaking of adrian as she got the trap open she began to think about his condition. It had been a few days since adrian had woken up and his fever was was finally going into the more normal range of a hundred. They still needed to bring it down a bit more thought it was a stark improvement to his temperature when she first found him. And her mother had assured her that while they had quite a ways to go he was out of the woods and the worst had passed.

Hearing that adrian had survived the worst part of his illness and that he would be fine solong as nothing added insult to injury had been a loud of her mind. That night after hearing all the good news she had the best night of sleep she in her life.

"Speaking of sleep." she said to herself as she approached the bed she could hear the stuffed up muffled breathing of adrian. "'Sigh' poor adrian he just can't seem to catch a break." she said to no one in particular. See it was not all good news as while he may have recovered from his previous illness he unfortunately caught a light cold in the process. So in the end he gets out of one illness and right into another one.

Going up the stairs to adrians temporary bed she could see his form in the blankets before seeing his slightly flush skin. While it was somewhat cruel that he had to suffer more only after just recovering. But when she considered that his immune system was likely running on fumes, so while it was cruel it was also not very surprising.

In fact even though it had been a few days since he woke up he still could not speak as his throat was still pretty badly swollen. And unfortunately there was no telling how long it would remain that way. So till then it was charades to try and understand him.

Setting the tray down a safe distance away incase he moved before kneeling on his left side back facing the wall. As she looked him over she had to note how much better he looked now compared to earlier that month when the found him. Looking on his chest she could see tikki sleeping peacefully. Smiling at her red friend she would have to remember to do something for the kwami. After all the occasional patrols and using her magic on adrian had really teken there tole so she owed the little spirit.

Simply sitting watching adrian as he slept she began to think about what happened the other day when he woke up and the way he acted. Her ma ma told her that he was likely hallucinating, imagining someone he falt safer with rather than herself. And while the idea that adrian did not feel safe around hurt. At the same time she also did not blame him ether as after everything that had happened he would want to feel an unrivaled sense of security.

However that was beside the point as she needed to get adrian fed se he could recover. As he would need the energy for when he was strong enough to try get back on his feet, something she suspected would be a lot easier said than done.

So putting a hand on the blond boy's shoulder she gave him a slight nudge not wanting to case to much discomfort to his. As she did this she noticed that the blindness of his hair was starting to return as it seemed somewhat faded before. As she continued to prod the boy into waking she finally heard him give a disgruntled grown. Shaking adrian a bit harder this time she heard another grown of protest from him. "Is this how I sound in the morning?" she asked herself in genuin wonder.

Ignoring that though as she continued to try and rouse the boy from slumber adrian continued his protest till at last. His eyes opened up slowly growning in discomfort from the light in his eyes. She watched as he closed his eyes for a moment, most likely because his eyes had yet to adjust to the light. Then watched as he opened them again to reveal his bright green eyes to her.

She was taken aback by those green eyes the same ones she had fallen in love with years ago, but at the same time also felt guilt from them as well. After for over a year and even now she was clambering for his love and attention. And while most of the girls in there school, and the country for that matter did so aswell...did it make it right. Just because she had fallen in love with the boy did it really justify her actions, after what if he was in love with someone else. And while true she knew he had a thing for ladybug most boy's his age did, one thing she did miss having chat around for as it keeps the male groupies away. Still what if he had his eye on someone else entirely.

Her stream of thought was broken however as adrian seemed to finaly fully come round and began to look at her. Immediately putting on a happy face to hide the depressive thoughts she felt. "Good morning" she started off "how are you feeling" she then asked the tired blond. He looked as though he was thinking about it for a minute before nodding slightly. "That's good." she responded her smile widening a bit at the answer.

After adrian started acting somewhat normally knowing he could not speak they had eventually made a line of communication. So when asked if he was feeling better a nod meant yes he was feeling better and a shack meant no. so to see the nod of yes was good news for marinette, "i'm glad your feeling better today."

'Are you hungry?" she then asked the blind patiently waiting for him to answer not wanting to rush him. Again he seemed to take what she said and thought about his words for a few minutes before nodding his head. After seeing this marinette set about her work to get him to wear she could feed him. Moving a hand under his wiry frame "relax, I'm going to lift you up now, is that alright?" she said to him to which he again nodded.

Both she and her ma ma had developled a system over the past three days working on four. And while by now adrian knew the drill and would not struggle against her she still asked him every time to make sure he was ready. Having the all clear though she proceeded to lift up adrians torso before propping a pillow she had stored nearby underneath his midsection torso and head. This left him in an upright in a reclined sitting position which would allow him to be fed with out all the hassle on her and her mothers part. And this left out all the embarrassment on his part. As being spoon fed like an infant was probably bad enough, but add being cradilled like one. Well she was not going to completely strip him of his dignity. After everything that and his pride was about all he probably had left to his name.

With adrian upright she re adjusted the fallen blanket before putting his frail hands in his lap. Checking his over to make sure he was comfortable she then brought the bowl of creamed rice in hand and a spoon.

Filling up the spoon full of one of her favorite dishes bridging over to adrians waiting lips as he turn his head slightly to great it. Thankful for marinette she did not have to practically forced adrian to eat it as he opened her mouth on his own accepting it. Once it was in his mouth marinette had to wait a few seconds before pulling away to give adrien time to get it all. However once she was sure he had it she pulled away equally slowly not to rush him.

All in all it took nearly a minute for a single spoon full. However for marinette this was acceptable as only a few days ago they had to try feed him in his sleep. So for her it was a major improvement and she would wait.

As she pulled away from adrian to give him more she tried to think of something to say to him. "Ma ma said that she hoped you liked this, she made it special for you." she suddenly berted out without thinking. Adrian's gaze then went to her own before looking at the bowl in her hands then absently went back to staring at the wall. This however made marinette's heart sink greatly.

Ever since waking up adrian had been strangely, instead of his usual polit self he seemed vary with drawn and even avoiding her all together. What was worse was she did not know why he was acting this way towards her. Which was wired as she remembered back when adrian used to visit during school he used to love it at her parents home. He never explained why he always said that it was because " I'm just tired of living in a big house, i like small" he would say. But marinette never did buy this, she did not know why it sounded like a lie but it did.

Of course as much as she wanted to know the truth marinette was not about to force it out of him as they wear his secrets to keep. She just wished that he trusted her enough to tell her what was the real reason. And maybe even what was bothering him.

However that still did not change the problem at hand as he still refused to look at her face anymore then necessary. Much less look her in the eyes. It was so odd the way he acted, and its was not just herself he had even acted that way towards her ma'ma and pa'pa. And while marinette could understand why he would act a bit reclusive around her pa'pa as he did have a slight tendency to go overboard in moments like this. Her ma'ma sabine was the dream mother being in her mind perfect in every possible way.

So as she continued to feed a hungry adrian she silently prayed that he would open up when he got his voice back later that week. Till then she would continue to care for him as best she could. So to help pass the time and try coxe the blond out of his shell marinette began talking about the happenings around the house.

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Friday

Adrians day had started like any other after waking up in marinette's room. He had been awake for around five days but he knew he had been more. However he could not remember for sure how long. Maybe a day, or two… he had no idea how many for sure he just knew it was at least a day. The only thing he could remember was the image of his mother, however that was impossible as his mother was gone so it must have been a dream. But like the day's before this day was no different than the day before.

It started with ether sabine or marinette waking him up for breakfast, today it was sabine's turn to wake him. As with the day's before he still could not speak he had tried several times before but all it did was come out like a garbled croak. After the first few embarrassments in front of marinette and sabine he only scratched his voice in private.

As with every day now he was also still to weak to move muchless sit up on his own so when the mother of marinette woke him she immediately went about propping him into a reclining position. When she was done she asked him if he rested well to which he nodded as best he could.

After she had re adjusted his blankets and moved a little ladybug toy off to the side which he had become aware of a few day's trailer. Then came his food he did not pay attention to the mother as she told him what it was. To be honest adrian's mind was elsewhere likely to stay there if not for the spoon nudging his mouth. By this point he did not even look he simply opened his mouth to accepted the food given to him. When the spoon hit his young and the food slipped from the metal surface in his mouth he had a moment of euphoria simply from the taste itself. He had no idea what it was given the taste and the cook however it was chinese. The taste was like nothing even his private chef could make it was so good that he honestly purred in deltight. It wasn't till he heard a laugh from sabine that he stopped himself in embarrassment. This made him thankful that he was still a bit feverish as to hid his red cheeks.

After this bit of embarrassment he began to listen to sabine as she talked about this and that. She explained why marinette was out that day as apparently she needed to get more fabric for a customer as she ran out mid project. Hearing this did make a small smile walk on his lips at hear what marinette had accomplished. He knew she wanted to be in the fashion industry almost as long as he knew her. So to hear that she was doing so well after the internship with his...father fell through,...and that she was doing so well on her own.

Sabien did stress that marinette would be back around noon if all went well and she would give him his lunch. That was another thing that was problematic though as lunch was usually breakfast. While he was not a biology major he knew enough to know that his stomach had shrunk down to the point where he just could not eat that much. So that meant leftovers for lunch...not that he necessarily minded.

That was the other problem though as adrian knew he could not stay with them as he possed to much risk to the family. Not only that but he was honestly could not allow himself to stay even if he wasn't a danger. As he had no money to give them in return. After all how much money had the spent caring for him all ready a hundred? A thousand? More? He could not know for sure but adrian knew that he would never be able to pay it back. He did not have a single cent to his name, and who would give him a job. Much less give him a job the way he was now.

There was also the fact that he had already brought enough shame on paris and adrian would not let them live with his shame any longer than needed. Marinette's family was a good family and he would not let a disgrace like himself tarnish that. The only problem was adrian did not know wear plagg or his ring was.

That was honestly the biggest problem he had to solve right now was getting the black cat ring back. And yes adrian was aware that it was tecnily silver despite its name, the silver coloring according to plagg came about after people tried to steal it as a defence mechanism. And while the defence was weak it was more than enough to protect it as only people who could use magic and masters of it would be able to tell the difference. And in plaggs words any master of magic would have no need for it as they would be more powerful the the ring on its own under their own power.

History aside though the issue came out as the other day when marinette set his hands in his lap after waking him. And he had noticed that the ring was not in its usual place making him worry he had dropped it before coming here. If so that was a major problem as there was no telling wear it could end up in the meantime. However the main problem he faced right now was that he could barely move much less walk. So till he could leave on his own and get out of bed he would have to wait.

There was also something else he had noticed and that was what looked like a handmade wooden necklace around his neck in the shape of a cat held together by a leather cord. It was odd and a bit ironic that it was a cat as well given who his alter was. But there came the fact of how he got it as he was positive that he did not have it before he passed out. The only answer was that it was given to him by marinette or her parents. And that was another thing he could not take as it was another thing he did not deserve in the slightest.

His thoughts wear drawn away from this problem when he began to feel his stomach grown in protest. He in just a few minute had all he could stomach and could eat no more. So when sabine brought the spoon to his lips again he was force to turn away from her like a stubborn child.

"Full?" sabine asked seemingly catching on quickly to what he was doing. Adrian just nodded in response making her pull the spoon away from him. He then heard the older woman putting the food back on its tray. it was then he heard her take a breath that sounded quite depressed. While he couldn't quite tell why she did this but if he had to guess that she was saddened that he couldn't eat more. He then silently listened as she began to speak once again however once again he was not listening. Instead just continued to think.

While he was not really thinking about anything important or doing major planning as that was ladybugs job, he was still in his own head till sabine mentioned marinette. "-should be back soon however I will come to check on you in a little while. Unfortunately I need to get back down to the shop now." she finished saying not knowing adrian ignored most of what she said.

Standing up heading towards the stairs of marinette's bed which made adrian momentarily paild (if that was possible) at the thought of getting down four flights of steps when he finally left. Before leaving however she turned to face him showing a loving smile on her face before asking "you will be alright for a little while won't you?" she asked. He silently nodded in response making the woman's study his face carefully for a moment. But her smile returned a moment later as if nothing changed. "That's good. I will be back up soon to check on you" she repeated a flash of concern through her eyes. Though it was only briefly before she gave him a poliht look before walking away.

Adrian laid there and listened to the sound of marinette's mother leave the room leaving him alone once again in quite something he had grown used to. Alone he was used to it in fact he dare say he both preferred it now and enjoyed it. Things wear less complicated being alone less to worry about. So long as he was alone he did not have to worry about anyone getting hurt at his expense. All he had to worry about was keeping out of sight and out of mind day in day out. That way no one else would get hurt. Save himself.

Now however he had to worry about other people not only checking on him over half hour or so, but also had to worry about them potentially getting hurt due to him living in there house. Though he supposed there was one perk he could not complain about. And that was him not having to hear plagg complaining about not having that lord awful cheese all day. So there was at least one plus. But that still did not change the fact that he still needed to find the ring.

'I'm in a real mess this time' he thought dismally as tried to think of a solution that did not involve waiting months in marinette bed. Which in itself was embarrassing enough as not only wear these people helping him. He woke up in one of his best friend's beds. And if nothing else could it have at least have been nino as waking up in a girls room, and bed was just embarrassing. After all he was cat noir he was known for being the strong man amongst foolish men. He should be the one wooing girls not waking up in one's bed.

And true he only had eyes for one girl it was not going to stop him from having a little fun once and awhile teasing some fan girls. What was worse though was the fact that he felt like a betrayer as he swore to ladybug he would always be there for her. And just looking at himself he felt disgusted. 'I'm supposed to be helping ladybug, not having a girl who for all intensive purposes was just an ordinary civilian help me.' he thought a little burnt by his own weakened state.

still try as he might there was precious little he could do until he ether got the ring back or became strong enough to leave on his own. And with that he decided to get some much needed sleep till sabine are marinette returned to check on him. After all what else could he do then just sleep the day away.

Saterday

Marinette was sitting by the window with laptop on her lap with bags under her eyes from lack of sleep as she was out most of the day on patrol. And to make matters worse an accident at an apartment complex that caused it catch fire in the middle of the night forced her to lose precios hours of sleep. This combined with having to help take care of adrian in the morning and the night before she decided to take it easy.

So as she lazaly looked over her social media she looking over her to friends list and noticed alya was online and typing her a message. Sitting up as she waited eagerly for the message her bff was going to send her.

( **hay how's it going girl)**

Looking at the post on messaging even though it was more a statement rather than a question it was something she had to think about. ' how was she doing?'. With everything going on with her job, her duties as ladybug, and watching adrian, not including helping her parents she had a pretty full plate. But deciding it best not to worry alya she decided to give her answer.

( **alright. Just tired I was super busy last night)**

While she omitted the what in the busy part she did speak or rather type truthfully. And less than ten seconds later alya begin typing the next response. Marinette growed at the swiftness as then meant she was going to get asked what she was doing. Realizing the the mistake she made in her answer too late just waited for alya's next message.

 **(girl what's going on that's got you so drained?)**

Alya typed but marinette had no time to respond to this as alya begin typing again making the blue bell wonder what else the girl had in mind..

 **(Don't tell me your getting closer to adrian than your supposed to while adrians stuck in bed. ,) )**

Marinette's face turned bright red at hearing this losing some of her tiredness in the process.

 **(alya that's not funny! You should not talk about stuff like that!)**

The blue haired girl countered greatly irritated by alya. After all the nerve of her suggesting such a thing of her and adrian. It was most certainly not something to laugh at which she was positive alya was doing on her end of the computer.

 **(relax I was only kidding :p)**

Marinette growned eritibly at the girl on the other side of her computer screen at how imiture she could be. No how immature she was not could be because she was always acting like this ever since they wear kids.

Deciding to ignore who was probably falling out of her chair laughing looked through her notifications. Looking through her notifications she noticed a few ads that had somhome showing up on her list and quickly dismissed them. There were a few from school mates max got a job teaching which was no surprise, sabriena posted she was seeing someone which marinette immediately liked as she deserved it. There was also one from roger which showed him giving awards to three of his officers for pulling people out the the building before she arrived as ladybug. There was even an engagement on the list which greatly surprised marinette.

All in all things seemed to be going more than well in the world around her, well almost everything. Looking over she shoulder to wear her bed was and wear adrian was resting. She was not sure if he was awake or not anymore. While he had woken up and been awake for several days he after ignored her presence by pretending to be asleep.

Her ma'ma told her it was most likly caused by him being alone so much that he was having trouble adapting to being around others again. And while marinette was sceptical she had to admit this did make some sense as adrian was alone for a few years. And having to hide all the time was probably why he was acting so reclusive right now. Well she was just thankful that he was almost cured of his illness as turning into ladybug while having to give a good amount of energy each time she turned into ladybug so he could heal faster. At least now he was almost recovered and would no longer need her help in a few days time.

Looking back towards her laptop beginning to look through more of her recent notifications. Seeing one from chole under her fake user name. (which she uses to make sure no one finds out who she is) it showed a private picture sent to her and marinette had to say she was impressed by what she saw. It was only about two weeks ago that she saw the blond and already so look great. She had lost some of the unhealthy wight she had gained. Her skin was showing some great color again, and her hair was much more vibrant than before. Marinette then clicked comment before typing.

 **(you look great chole keep it up.)**

Clicking send she did not have to wait long to see the blond like the comment she sent which made marinette happy. "I never would have thought the two of us could ever get along. And yet here we are messaging each other and liking eachothers photos." she said out loud not real caring if adrian heard mostly due to her hoping that maybe he would eventually want to join her.

Regardless she then went back to her notifications once more this time noticing a post from nino of all people. Clicking on the link turned into a page showing nino on stage who was currently in the U.S on a tour at anime conventions. She had to smile at the photo and even contemplated showing adrian. But remembering how he was avoiding her unless he needed foo sided against it till later when he might be more agreeable.

Liking the photo and leaving a comment she then clicked back over to alya's message board to see if she was still on. Seeing the green symbol above her name begin typing a question she had been wondering for a while now.

 **(Hay alya have you told nino about adrian yet?)**

Marinette asked wondering if nino knew. While she half expected the answer she was going to get she wanted to be sure. And sure as tikki loving cookies alya was quick to answer.

 **(no not yet.)**

Marinette clicked her tongue in irritation as she knew this was going to happen. She and alya had talked about telling nino and alya promised to tell him soon. However two weeks pulse in her mind was not soon unless your going to mars.

 **(alya you have talked about this. Nino is adrian's best friend he needs to know about this.)**

Marinette typed back to her redhead friend and even though she could not see it she could almost feel her friend rolling her eyes and she watched the now typing message play.

 **(ya girl I know.)**

 **(but I'm not going to tell him till he's on his way back to france. If I tell him before he will blow off his last few cons to come home.)**

"I should have known!" Marinette huffed out. She should be surprised but honestly wasn't how could she be this was something alya was known for selective information. This was not the first time she selectively neglected to give information about certain things to people in order for them to do what she wants.

 **(alya we talked about this you need to tell nino about this no more stalling. He is going to be very mad at you if he finds out you wear stalling. Well I don't want to think about it)**

Marinette was being honest she literally did not want to be in the room when if nino found out she had been lying to him. Nino while the coolest guy around arguable could be vary cold if he wanted to be.

Still that was beside the point what was is the fact that alya was withholding information she promised to give, but was clearly happy to ignore and withhold till nino was ether on his was or was back. And marinette was about to tell her this much and tell her that she would tell nino if alya did not. But once again she was stopped by the typing message bar.

 **(nino has been waiting to long for this opportunity to play his music at this level for nearly four year girl if he skips out now he may never have another chance. Once he comes back in december I'll tell him. So will he be mad at me sure will it mean I sleep on the couch instead of in bed for a few weeks sure.**

 **But nino will get over eventually it and he will understand**

 **I hope.)**

If there was one thing that marinette knew was that alya had a habit of giving too much information. Namly about her and nino's sleeping arrangements, something she did not need to know. But she also knew that alya truly loved nino and was doing this for his sake. So she supposed she would let her tell nino at her own pace.

Besides she did not live or share a bed with nino so even if she did tell him she would not have to be the one who deals with the fall out for alya's mistake.

She was sure that nino would be mad at her as well but she also knew that she needed to let alya learn from her own mistakes. That and she could not save everyone.

 **(You have your will wrote out right?)**

She typed mischievously waiting for the expected response.

 **(girl why would I need a will at my age?)**

Alya sked clearly taking the bait that she had set for the freelance reporter.

 **(Because you will need one when nino finds out.)**

Marinette had to put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh at her joke. Then another idea popped into her head at that thought.

 **(after nino finds out can you bequeath your office to me I could really use the work space when your gone.)**

The pain in her said as she tried to control her laughter at this point was almost unbearable as she watch as like lightning alya's response popped up.

 **(Ha Ha)**

Was the girls only response back to marinette as the blue bell decided to add one more detail.

 **(sorry :P)**

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

Sunday

It was now sunday afternoon and it was very loud downstairs as adrian could hear the murmores of conversations and movement of objects in the living area. This day there was no early morning baking and the shop was closed. As today every week sunday was the family's day off from work.

And while the dupan-chang family enjoying their sunday morning off adrien was alone upstairs alone doing nothing in particular laying in bed. As he lay there he thought back to earlier that morning when he tested his strength and he could feel himself being stronger. As he began to have more control over his body finding it becoming increasingly easier to move. But while this was a booster to his moral it was tempered by the fact that he still could not feel his legs. He could move his toes so he knew he was not paralyzed but the felt numb to him unable to move.

He silently groaned in frustration as he still had yet to reclaim his voice his throat to sore to even try, Wishing the whole time he had the ring. He knew that he the black cat ring was on his finger wear it belonged he could leave then and there. As he had more than enough strength to use the ring with plagges help so he could leave on his own as cat noir.

Till he could move on his own to go and look for his ring who would just have to wait while his strength recovered on its own. The wait however would be what killed him though not that his death would be a bad thing. As he had no idea how many people his father had ticked off, so for all he knew he could have a mob pinning for his head along with most of paris. And that was something he did not want to chace marinette's safety with.

"If only i had that stupid ring" he thought bitterly in his mind feeling like a fool for losing it. He wanted to scream in frustration if not for his throat but that would do nothing but give his position away and he also knew better.

Laying there trying to think of something to do as his mind why not all there was well enough to be bored. Craving something to do at this point he would have even taken a test to give him something to keep his mind occupied. But as he could not move more than his fingers and toes that was impossible. Unless someone was in the room with him. Though thinking about it if he could move he wouldn't need anything to distract himself as he would have simply left already if he could.

Right now at least he was just wishing he could see or if nothing else hear what what was going on downstairs. If only to keep him from dying of boredom especially when he knew things going on downstairs to see and ocupi his attention if he could see them. Considering all the noise of stuff moving around downstairs to was killing him not to know what was going on. Considering the amount of noise going on down stairs making him wonder if they wear rearranging the living room.

And as if on que to answer his question he could hear the trap door open up below him to his right. He was vaguely questioning who it was as it was too early for dinner so it could not be that. Once again as if by psychic power and command he got his answer "adrian its my marinette" he heard the bluebell call out his name announcing her arrival.

He then heard the girl close the trap door before quickly moving around to walk up the stairs relieving herself. Her appearance was slightly disheveled along with her cheeks being slightly red giving the impression of physical exertion.

"Hay sorry for not being here with you all day" marinette said sounding somewhat out of breath confirming adrians theory about her working hard. His face must have been quit telling as she looked puzzled look when you could see the light bulb go off. "Oh you must be wondering what all that noise was." she stated more than asked. Not that it would matter as he could not answer veritably anyway. But he nodded anyway.

Marinette saw this but said nothing as she moved to his right side sitting down. Adrian watched her as she place a hand on his head to check his temperature before continuing wear she left off. "A relative of ma'ma is in town today and my parents invited him and his wife over for dinner. And we have been rushing to clean things to make them perfect for when they arrive a bit later." . Adrian listened to the girl sputter off in quick time though still legible thankful as adrian could not ask for her to repeat it. Pulling her hand away finally a few moments later as the boy just watched her.

The pair then being to stair at each other for a short while "Sorry for not giving you much attention today." she said suddenly a hint of red on her face. Adrian was somewhat taken aback at her random statement and her now slightly reddened face that seemed to be a blush. "But that can't be why would she blush. Wondering silently curious if she was coming down with something. 'I hope I did not pass what ever I have to her.' he prayed as they stared for a few seconds more.

"Well any way" marinette came out with finally getting up "we are nearly done down stairs and when we are I'll come back with dinner when ma'ma is finished." she stated somewhat flustered almost. Clearly trying to cover up from her last attempted to speak she took a breath be for saying something else. "The dinner is sort of a private event so I'll be up hear when it's happening so don't worry" finishing her statement somewhat down cast .this made adrian wonder if she actually wanted to be at the dinner but did not wish to admit it. Marinette stood unmoving for a while finally saying "I'll see you a little later then." she finished quickly before leaving. Leaving adrian to wonder what he had just seen unsure of what was going on.

Adrian then listened as she walked down stairs walking over to the trap door and down into the houses living area. After a short brake of silence he could vaguely hear marinette's voice as she mentioned his name. Most likely telling her parents he was alright after she checked up on him.

While he did not mind being alone again as he struggled to figure out what was wrong with marinette it left him with nothing to do again. And the long wait between visits or something to occupy his mind was maddening. For now though he would just have to wait about listening to what happened below him for anything that he could make out.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

Adrian listened to what was happening in the living room and kitchen for at least an hour or more though it was hard to tell. In honesty he was glad he did not have a clock or it would have drove him stir crazy.

But eventually he heard the trap door open again however this time he heard the clinking of class wear or porcelain. This told adrian that dinner as promised was being brought up. As he waited for her to arrive he could make out the smell of cooked meat and vegetables mixed with some exotic spices or something. It was hard to tell for sure but it was a good guess plus with marinette's mother having chinese roots it make scenes that he would not recognise some of her cook, despite having eaten it for over a week now.

He then heard the clear pitter patter of foot on the stairs leading up to his his current place of logging. And a second later he saw marinette's head pop up into his line of sight holding a large tray of things.

The blond watched somewhat impressed that she could carry it all as the tray was piled with things that looked far to heaven even for him. Well to heavy before he got the boost is strength from plagg being near by all day.

However despite this she maneuvered the try over to wear he lay which allowed him to get a better look at what was on it. And quite a lot there was if had a virtual mountain of food on the tray. Fried rice, pork, dumplings, and few things he was not so sure about. 'Is all this for me?' he thought worried not licking the idea of even eating a fraction of what he was seeing before him.

He then heard a short laugh from marinette making him look at the girl who had a vary amused look on her face. "Don't worry not all of its for you." she said hurmer still in her system. Adrians face reddened slightly he could feel it as his cheek felt warm. Clearly his reaction at seeing so much food had made her come to such an assumption.

The girl sighed slightly as she picked up one of the empty bowls separating it revealing two bowls one inside the other. Adrian was slightly confused while he knew that marinette said she would not being joining her parents for the dinner party he didn't really believe it. He figured that she would come up and feed him before coming back down to join them.

However his thoughts wear cut off when marinette began to speak again. "Sorry I took so long the guests came earlier than expected and pa'pa had to stall them downstairs while me and ma'am finished up." she said quickle as she moved around the dishes revailing two of everything. A pair of bowls that he seen earlier, pair of plates, a pair of utensils(adrian was just glad they wear forks and spoons not chopsticks.), and a pair of cups.

As he watched he noticed minus the dumplings there was a lot of food that was soft a lot of it required chewing. And while adrian craved being able to chew again it was a bit odd. Adrian then watched as marinette moved to leaver him into a reclined sitting position. Adrian noted how she seemed to take great care in making sure he was comfortable even asking him several times if he wanted to be adjusted.

Once she was finished she adrian watched as the girl began plating up a portion for them. As marinette did this adrian raised his hand to test his strength. He was not becoming able to lift his arm on his own. But as far as anything else was concerned it was not great as when he tested his grip it was lame and loose. While a stark improvement over what he had been putting up with he still had a long way to go.

"Just to warn you" marinette started to say taking adrians attention away from his hands back to the girl who was still plating. "There is some solid chunks in your food." she said to him making adrian look and confirming his earlier suspicions there wear a number of things with bits that needed chewing. A few moments later marinette not even looking from her work continued explaining, "ma'ma said she wanted to start weaning you off soft food and introducing you more to solid food now that you have gotten some of your strength back." the bluenette explained.

Adrian was not sure how he felt about this to be honest. On one hand he wanted to be able to eat normally again like before, on the other hand however he was also not sure he could without choking. Though given how well marinette's mother had seemed to help him he had to consider the fact that she thought of this already. For now he decided just to wait and see how things worked, besides it had been a while and while he was not fully recovered he wanted to know if he could eat properly now.

Once marinette was finished she leaned closer to adrian with a spoon in one hand and a bowl of fried rice in the other. He had done this dance many times recently so this was nothing new to him now. Adrian opened his mouth to receive his meal as he waited for marinette to put the spoon in his mouth.

And immediately after there was an explosion of flavor in his mouth that made his eyes go wide at the taste. "It's good huh?" marinette asked, but adrian was not listening as he was just tasting the food that was on his tongue not bothering to chew just left it on his tongue for the taste.

Her heard marinette laugh again now that his food high was dying before hearing her say "don't forget to chew it." she said making him pause. After a moment he did indeed begin to chew his food, while it was hard at first given how he had not chewed anothing in quite some time he was still glad he could without much problem.

Once he chewed what he felt like enough swallowed with a little extra effort but ultimately without trouble. Taking a few moments to make sure he got it down before looking over to marinette again who had a smile on her face at his expression. "Alright hang on I'll give you more." she commented humorously before repeating the previous process again.

And for over the next hour or so the pair sait quietly eating there food marinette feeding adiran while also eating her own food in between bites. While they did this the pair could also could hear the loud conversations and laughter from down stairs which made both of them laugh if silently in adrians case. Some of the things they overheard even made both of them blush at the explicit content that nether wanted to hear about. And maybe they were not meant to, making them both wonder if wine was added in the mix.

As the evening went on and the food began to dwindle upstairs along with adrians energy and the stories quieted down downstairs. After finishing their respective dinners marinette brought the tray to her dest before returning with her computer and putting on a movie for adrian to watch with her.

However there stomachs full from there meal and marinette tired from her day working and frantic cleaning, and adrian's strength not fully recovered yet there energy was spent trying to digest. Combined with the now slightly quite darkened and warm atmosphere in the the did not watch vary much of the movie. And soon the pair dozed off and fell asleep.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

It was late in the home of the dupan-change residence as time walked up the stairs to his daughters room. It was nearly midnight by the time that there out of town guest left and neither he nor sabine wanted to clean up the mess. After the long evening and a bottle later, not counting all the cleaning they had to do being the hosts. Well the pair had seen better days or night as it were.

As tom aprotched the hatch he almost forgot to raise a hand to open it nearly smashing his head into the ceiling door. Stopping before he hurt himself grumbling eritibly about how tired he was raised a hand and opened the door. Going into the room he could see it was dark the lights wear off. Looking around to could see a small red light blinking on the wall wear the switch was telling him that the lights turned off on their own after not scences any moving objects for a while.

Entering fully in the room leaving the trap open he looked about but did not see marinette anywhere. Wondering where the girl could have gotten off to questioning whether or not she somewhere slipped down stairs without ether him or sabin noticing. Deciding it best to check on adrian while he was there he proceeded to walk over to the stairwell wear his girl's bed was and wear adrian was temporarily staying. Key word temporary, though he would not deny that he would love to have the boy stay.

As he claimed he could hear the faint sounds of someone else climbing up the stairs to the marinette's room. Thinking nothing of it believing it to be marinette return ignored it not looking to see who it was. However as he reached the top he was met with a surprise.

"Well now this is different." tom commented a smile growing on his face is witness fading from his at the scene. "Hun is marinette up there?" he heard sabine say coming up behind him, but he said nothing as he simply waited for her to join him. And as predicted a few seconds later "tom" her heard her ask again this time literally behind him, he then felt her slip around him to see what he was looking at when "oh my." sabine gaspe in surprise.

Before the two was marinette and adrian sleeping side by side leaning against each other was marinette who had slid over being held up by adrian who was also fast asleep. The laptop off to the side playing the constant loop of the main menu of the movie they wear watching. The married parents faces grew wide with smiles at the cute sight before them. It was hard not to smile at the seen even despite everything that had happened to poor adrian. It was moments like this that always made hardship worth the effort.

There was also the fact that both of them knew that the pair wear perfect for each other, even if they did not see it yet. Watching their daughter and the boy work, play and study together for several years. They wear able to see just how well the two fit together. Which made it ever more sad when adrian fled, both of them remembering how broken marinette was when she found out. But now it seems that things might finally be turning out for the pair.

Tom then at that moment slid his arm around his wife sabine which made her lean into the large mans side. "They are a cute couple aren't they?" sabine said reminded of when she and tom wear dating. Tom then clung tighter to his wife before replying with "they certainly are.". There was a short pause before tom came back and said "now if only they could see what we have for year now already.". The pair then shared a stifled laugh at the joking remark at the expense of the sleeping pair.

The two stood quite for several minutes before tom gave a slight tug on sabines side. Looking up the mother seeing her husband looking down at her. "Lets leave them alone to sleep." he said to her making her pout slightly as she was enjoying looking at the pair. Tom seeing this just smiled wider "don't worry we can tease them about it later" he man suggested showing his dark said in that moment.

Sabines smile widened greatly as the sedjustion nodding to her husband before allowing tom to guild her away. However sabine stopped this before pulling out her cellular phone. Turning around turning it up and switching it to night time camera mode then "click". Once done and seeing the pair had not even sure she turned back to her husband simply mouthing "just in case" before walking down the stairs with tom.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

Monday

As monday came round and the sun began to rise over the horizon and began to light the streets of paris. As the darn light begin to filter into the homes of the people of france the day for many was beginning. And for one resident of the city in particular was in for quite a surprise.

As the sun came into the window of one blue haired parisian girl. As the light begin to crawl along the floors and walls making its way upwards the occupants slept unaware. The light continued its path before finally reaching the face of marinette. Irritated by the bright intrusion she raised a hand to shield her face growing agitated by it. However this was not a effective measure as light continued to bother the girl. Eventually the invading light became too much and the parisian girl opened her eyes for the first time that day.

As marinette lay in bed he eye's open staring ahead at the light that was intruding in on her she wishing it would go away. She simply tried to get closer to the warm object next to her that she had previously snuggled up to. 'So warm' her mind thought fondly as she squeezed the warm object next to her. Closing her eyes again thanks to the comforting and inviting warm body next to her.

'Wait?' her mind stopped the pleasant feeling while still there was no longer affecting her as her eyes snapped open. Looking over to her right to see exactly what she was holding and as she looked over to her side her eyes went wide. Laying back propped up against his pillow booster with her arms around his midsection was adrian agrest.

Marinette's face went red as ladybugs suit, her eyes wide and pastry platters, jaw hanging from a slack hinge. And all the while adrian sleeps unaware of all the panic beside him.

As her mouth hung agape she had to force herself to not yelp in surprise from the shear shock of the situation before her. Almost immediately she tried to get untangled from the blond only stopping her frantic struggle when he moved in response. The boy moved in no particular way as if unconsciously trying to get more comfortable. However after a few seconds she could feel his one arm move as his body turned to face hers. Then the unthinkable his right arm snaked its way around her midsection before so what weakly pulled her close into a hug.

If it was possible for marinette's eyes to go any wider they would have as her face was now less than six inches from adrians. She could feel the faint tingling of his breath from there close proximity to one another. As she stared at adrian she had to force herself not to move a completely break down and start freaking out because of it.

'Ok marinette just breath. Just calm down and breath' she told herself trying to avert panic while her mind tried to find a way to get out of this mess. Looking around she could see that the arm that she had underneath adrian was almost free. So starting there she started to gently wriggle her hand loose. It was slow as she had to keep from waking adrian up. It was difficult but by applying constant pull she was eventually able to free her hand.

However once her hand was free adrian began to stir making her freeze in place as adrian began moving again. The blond squirmed and growed as the movement of her removing her arm clearly disturbed him. Thankfully this did not last long as as he soon stopped moving again.

Breathing I silent sigh of relief now that adrian stopped moving again. 'That was way to close' she thought as she knew any more interruptions like that he would wake. So she would need to be more careful from that moment on. So using her free left hand she lifted the arm that he had around her waist. Taking her time lifting it only a small amount ever so gently. It took a minute to do so without alerting him but once she lifted if enough that she could slip out she did so.

Once again taking her time and being patent she slowly worked her way out of his arms. There was just a problem. Once she got a small distance away his arm moved to incricle her again. And despite his weakened state he had quite a respectable grip now.

Gowning in displeasure at her luck 'figures' she grumbled to herself now having to find another way around this new problem. Trying to find a way out of this new problem looking around when she noticed the large ladybug plushi alya gave her for christmas last year. Smiling to herself at the idea she just had if she could speak without waking adrian she would have said "perfect".

So once again using the arm she was not laying on marinette reached up and grabbed the very large doll. Then slowly and carefully she began to slide it in between herself and adrian. Ever so slowly and deliberately she pulled it between them inch by inch. Until finally the plushie was in between her and adrian. Or at the least in between both of their mid sections.

Having achieved phase one she needed to get the second part done. Next she began to lift adrians arm again. This time however she used her other hand to keep the doll up right and slipped it into the boys hand. Once she was sure it was in his hands she began to slide herself out once again.

And just like last time adrian tried to prevent her from leaving, but this time with the doll in his hand his arm snaked around the doll pulling it closer instead of her. Spurred on by her success she rolled over onto her back before rolling one more onto her other side. Then like that angled herself upwards into a sitting position.

Free of adrians grip marinette could finally stretch herself out from the long night in an odd position. Her back was sore from the way she was sleeping so raising her hands above her head until she heard her back pop. letting out a sigh as her back instantly felt better lowering her arms once again.

With that done her attention went to adrian who was sleeping on his left side sleeping with the ladybug doll with both arms close to his chest. Marinette could not help but smile at the scene now that she was free as seeing him like this.

But also it was a good sign as up till now he had always laid still on his back, from what her mother told her it was likely because his body was so weak it could not move like most people do to get comfortable when they sleep. But now seeing adrian moving on his own more and with some decent Albeit limited strength was a good sign. At the rate he was going in a few weeks he should be back on his feet.

Looking away from adrian and pulled her phone from her poket bringing it up to her face to check the time on the phone, Which read (7.08)...

"Oh my!" she squealed before covering her mouth with her hand looking over to adrian and say that he had begun moving again. Seeing this before a person had the chance to say banana marinette split off the bed and down the stairs.

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Adrians eyes opened lazaly taking in the sights of the room only to see bluebell eyes staring back at him. His eyes snapping open wide pushing back the object in front of him his face going red with embarrassment. It was then he realized that these bluebell eyes wear not the ones of his lady. Well they wear but they wear the eyes of a ladybug doll. His eyes closing slightly relaxing and letting out a sigh of relief.

Bringing the doll closer not only because of it was still warm from being in contact from another warm body. Second he felt safer with it as it reminded him of his of his lady the one person who could make him forget his worries and inspire him. lady bug was the only one who could take his fear and doubt away. So long as he knew his lady was out there nothing else mattered.

Seeing as how he had woken up for no reason and food would likely com later he decided to go back to sleep for a while. After all once he left he would need the rest he had now to last him a while. Hugging the doll tightly as he could before closing his eyes and letting sleep calm him again which was all to easy as wear he slept was all to warm and inviting.

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Marinette standing on her rooms main floor now had heard adrian stir for a bit before finally settling down. Letting go of the breath that she had been holding seeing how she narrowly avoided waking adrian. However that was un important as she needed to go out and investigate as ladybug. Yesterday she got a call as ladybug from the police chief (yes I'm doing the batman approach) warning her that there had been reports of several break ins at data storage centers in the past week.

While the break ins themselves wear nothing to be concerned about but rather wear the break ins wear being done that was a concern. The thief had not breached the layers of security that had the data but this assailant had gotten close. Too close. If the data had been breached there was no telling how much damage could be done.

So to help prevent this she was going to be meeting up with the investigation team to see what they might be dealing with. After all if they wear dealing with extremists the police knew they could use her help. After all the attempted robberies wear wired and both she and the chief wear worried they might be dealing with someone who was trying to be the next hawkmoth.

And while a new supervillain wannabe was not the problem as this particular villain was not a danger as they had failed, naraly I'll be it but still failed to get past the heavier security. The problem was they did not need this rouge gallery reject to encourage anybody else to try their hand at this sorta the sooner the netted this villen the sooner they could put the lid back on pandora's jar (Before any one of you messages me and say "no it's a box." actually no its a jar in the orgianly myth. Infact most scalars aren't even sure wear the whole box thing came in even.)

So looking around her room to see if she could find tikki noticed one of the draws on her desk was open. Walking over to her desk and looking inside she could see tikki asleep inside. Smiling at her partner cute form, but she could not get distracted as she was already running late. "Alright tikki sorry about this but...spots on!"

And that was it as the kwami was woken abruptly shrinking in surprise as she was pulled into the earrings. With a bright flash of light gone was marinette and in her place was ladybug ready to fight crime. For a moment she could feel a little anger in the back of her mind telling her that tikki was clearly displeased with being awoken so abruptly. "Sorry tikki but I was kinda in a hurry." she said out loud knowing the spirit could hear her. After a few moments she felt the angry wave lessen telling her that tikki forgave her.

With that out of the way and in her hero form she made her way towards the staircase that lead up to the balcony. 'I sure have a lot of stairs don't I.' she thought to herself as she climbed the stairs leading to the roof. However before she opened the hatch to go outside she turned round to look at adrian once more. His peaceful form visible from her spot on the stairs look ever so relaxed and healthy.

Healthy a word that even a week ago she would not have used to describe adrians condition, but now he honestly looked pretty healthy. Granted they still had a ways to go but there was no rush they just had to be patent. Still it did make her wonder what they would do once he was up and about. After all the city still hated him. "If only there was a way to make people see adrian for who he is and not his father" her voice mournful as she spoke. The memories of countless hate websites against adrian and other places. It was a terrible thing to do to someone.

This was interrupted however when she heard a knock at the hatch to her room and a certin female voice coming from below. "KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Marinette are you awake yet? Marinette?".

Marinette eyes went wide as the voice of her mother came from the hatch realizing that she had come to wake her up. At first she found this odd but then realized that she was in her room all night with...adrian. Her checks flaring a bit but she forced that down. That meant though that at some point last night her ma'ma came to see wear she was.

However she had little time to worry about the fall out of her night with adrian. As she needed to leave before she had to also explain why ladybug was in her room and not marinette. So taking her que before her ma'ma came in opened the hatch and slipped out quite as she could. And not a moment too soon as just as she closed her hatch she could hear the one her mother was near open.

Staying on the roof in the cold morning air for a few moments she could hear her mother enter her room still calling her name. Shortly thereafter though she heard her ma'am trying to wake up adrian so he could eat.

Seeing how she got away scot free (this time) decided it was best to leave and meet up with the police and see if she could help with the investigation.

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Tusday

As tuesday rolled around adrian was once again on marinette's bed alone testing his strength. as for the last two days she had busy doing something she did not talk about. He assumed it was some fiddly client for her sewing skills or something. And the reason why he assumed this was because she came home the night before complaining about how badly her day was going. And while she did not go into detail it was clear it was a problem as she also complained that she would have to go out again today.

So with it being a busy day apparently in the bakery he was left to his own vices. Most of the time he tried to see what his body could now as today he when flexed his hands. He could feel strength in his hands more so than ever. He could now pick up and move things again on his own. This morning in particular he was able to feed himself on his own with a little help from marinette mother sabine. Much to his embarrassment while much stronger his hands wear pretty clumsy thanks to lack of use.

But now that he did not need to sleep most of the day away it still left a problem of what he was going to do. Thankfully marinette left him a book from her collection this time so he at least had something to read. It was a teen romance novel about a girl who found a merboy who was hurt and feel in love with him. This was a surprise to adrian as marinette did not seem the type to like things such as that. And while the book from what little he read was decent enough he just did not want to read it. Though in marinette's defence judging from how much of a hurry this morning she probably grabbed the book he was given by mistake thinking it was another one.

Still he supposed it was better than nothing after all he had nothing to read without it so it was far better than without. Besides it was not a bad book it was decent enough so even if it was out of boredom he may just yet finish it.

The book was besides the point as his strength was a good sign as it meant he could leave even sooner than he thought to go and look for the ring. After all even if marinette's family was not in danger there was no telling how much danger paris could be in if someone bad figured out how to use the ring.

In the wrong hands it was just as dangerous as the one ring. If not more so mostly do to the fact that the ring to his knowledge not only was indestructible. But had powers that even plagg refused to tell him of. And if the trickster plagg was afraid of some of the things it could do he really did not want to know what would happen in the wrong hands. Or hand given how it was just a single ring and not a pair of rings.

That aside when ever he tried to sit up he had trouble as he could not sat upright for more than a minute or two before he started to tire. But it was still encouraging and once he got control of his feet again he was gone. After all there was no telling if people had seen him when marinette brought him here. There was so much risk and with each passing day he felt more and more anxiety to leave.

Though the hardest part of leaving though was actually leaving and the wait was painful as the longer he stayed the less he would want to leave. And he could not allow that to be the case.

Though it was not all good news though as he still coul not speak at all, he could make noise but not speak. He throat no longer hurt now so it was not all bad but he just was unable to talk. Which was while not bad as he did not have much to say the problem came in that is was quite annoying. As he had to play twenty questions just to get a single thing across to marinette or sabine. But in the end he was able to for the most part get his point across, it just took a while.

Decided to quit acting like a bodybuilder stopped flexing his arms and hands as they wear starting to get sore now. And wanting to case him to lose some of the strangh decided it was best to rest up and not waste his energy.

Looking over to the side turning his head to see the book that marinette gave him sitting on top of the giant ladybug doll. While he liked books like this about as much as did not he also had nothing better to do. 'Why not. Until marinette gets back or sabine come to check on me it's not like there is anything else I can do on my own.

So reaching over and picking up the book bringing it over to him. Looking at the pastel blue book with the picture of a tailed girl and bubbles on it. 'I can't believe I'm reading this' he thought to himself but again he shrugged this off as what else was he going to do. So cracking the book open again he started to read wear he left off from. Using a finger to leaf through the pages he ha already read searching for the fifth chapter.

When he stopped reading the main female lead had found the main male lead washed up on shore after getting attacked. And the girl had to drag the merboy back home so she could help him. 'Ironic' adrian though as he was in almost the exact same position. The only difference was the merboy was for now at least happy to stay on land for a bit. He was unsure why the merboy was ok with staying for a while because he had not gotten that far yet. But it was just after the part where he was started to refine his english. As the merpeople speak their own language and he was a self taught english speaker.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself unable to believe the luck he was in. 'I can't believe I'm reading this, I would much rather read a spy novel or an arthurian tale, maybe even a sci fi. hack I would even read a horror novel. But beggars can't be choosers I guess.' he thought dismally as he was reluctant to read. However regardless of how much he would like it it was a good way to pass the time. So deciding to stop complaining as he began to read.

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Later that day.

Marinette was not having a good week as she walked home to blow off some steam. Bundled in a blue jacket with black trim with scarf and matching pants all of which she designed. All the while she walked home from a vary unsuccessful day. As she looked up at the charging sky taking a moment to pause and admire the view. As an idea for a new pattern came to her from the sight. "All right not completely unsuccessful. At least if I draw this out I will have something to show for it." she said out loud somewhat happier, but it as the cold air brushed over her skin it still did little to change the fact at how poorly things wear going.

But the view while beautiful and uplifting still was not going to help her as she needed to get home. As she promised her ma'ma that she would help close up tonight as her pa'pa apparently was having some problems with staying awake and a bit under the weather. Most likely caused from there party there other night.

So taking one last long look at the sun she began to head back towards home. As she walked she began to think about the case and how weird it was. While a robbery at a data place like the ones hit was not entirely out of place, though rare. It was the method that was odd namly why an amiture who was smart enough to not get caught by the guards save one exception. There was also the fact that this person was foolish enough to trip the of security method like silent alarms and the like.

"'Sigh' it's just not my week" she commented out loud to know one in particular. While the week started out alright with her little meal with adrian the rest of the week was less so. Both all day this day and the day before she had tried to make headway with the data theft, or attempted data theft more accurately. But with next to no success.

While both she and the police wear able to make scenes of some things. Like how the unsub was an amature at least as far a the b&e was concerned. The suspect was however was both strong enough and skilled enough to attack and over power two security guards at the same time in less the eight seconds from what they got from a security camera. Unfortunately the perp while an amituture given how many mistakes he/ or she had made, this person was smart enough to kill the lights.

Combine that with the fact that she disappeared before the guards or police could spot the suspect was casing this case to get very annoying. Leaving both herself and the authorities scratching their heads. As not only did they not know even the gender of this person they didn't even know what they wear after or who they may be working with or for. All the did know was that the perp was around her height nothing else.

All in all it was a strange case as the perps own action contradicted themselves appearing to be both a competent and incompetent crook at the same time. Right now however given how the csi crew was still going over the evidence there was not much left for her to help with. Unless a new crime happened that either leaves more compelling evidence or the perp gets caught in the act there was nothing she could do except keep an eye out for odd activity on patrol.

By this point she had already neared the bakery being dead ahead of her. As she approached the cross walk she looked both ways waiting several seconds on each. Then with no one there she crossed the street. Approaching the bakery store front seeing a few customers inside happily going about their business.

Opening the door to the shop her scenes wear assaulted by the smells of the baked goods. And while the smell was always strongest during the morning when the treats wear first baked even now it still smelled like heaven. Bring herself back to the present when she noticed someone leaving. Opening the door wider and stepping out of the way of the older women as she left. "Thank you" the lady said to marinette who smiled happily in response "no problem." she responded in kind.

Stipping inside herself now marinette saw her mother just finishing with another customer when she noticed her arrival in the shop. "Oh hello marinette perfect timing." the mother exclaimed happy to see her.

Marinette walked up to the counter a smile on her face wanting to hide her earlier frustrations as she made her approach. "Hello ma'am is everything alright?" marinette asked unconcerned rather more as a kind gesture. Sabine smiled kindly in return "I'm fine it's just been a busy day." she returned to marinette. Marinette frowned a little at this "are you alright? Do you need me to help?" she asked hoping that her ma'ma was alright after tom had to lay down. Sabine just shrugged this off unconcerned "no I am alright I just need someone to check on something upstairs as I have not been able to do it myself." she said enunciating the up stairs part a bit.

This made marinette pause for a moment 'up stairs? What does she...oh' that's when it hit her what or more accurately who she was referring to. "I understand I'll go up right away to make sure everything is alright." marinette said happily to cover up any covert actions while around the customers. "Thanks marinette." her mother said to her before attending to another customer.

Seeing this as her que to leave marinette went through the backdoor of the shop and into the baking area. Walking carefully around the decorating tables and surprises before going through the next set of doors in the back of the kitchen. Once in the hall she makee her way round and up the stairs wear their home was.

She quickly unlocked the door to there house before bounded to the stairs to her room. Once there she quickly climbed up words thinking about the blond. "I sure hope adrians alright I left in quite a hurry this morning. Well I gave him a book to read that should keep him busy" marinette said to herself hoppy that at the thought of him being able to control his hands better when she checked on him before leaving early that morning. Though that put a new question in the girls mind "Now that I think about which book did I give him?" she questioned herself as she neared the trap. Then she stopped her hand hovering on the surface of the trap her face going red "I hope I did not accidentally give him that book." she thought horror struck at the idea of someone finding out she had that book.

Marinette then shook her head vigorously "no I couldn't have. It's in a safe place that not even I can ratch in a hurry. So everything is fine." marionette reasoned logicly. Now being heavily flustered decided just to check on adrian to keep her mind occupied. And it he asks about her red cheeks she will just tell him she just came in from outside. "Ya that is what I'll do." she agreed with herself before opening the hatch.

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It was later after noon the sky was starting to turn despite being only around four or five adrian was not sure as his nose was stuck in the same book he had spent all day reading. He was nearing the end about another quarter to go and he couldn't care less as the story progressed. The story was boring beyond beleaf in the first half. And it was still to a lesser extent as the plot picked up a bit. But now he just wanted to know how it ended.

The story was still somewhat boring but judging from the writing style this was the writers first book. And a quick check on the note in the back confirmed this theory so that explained why it was so drab. As most of the first book involved the the male lead teaching the female lead to swim better and to be a mermaid. While the female lead showed him around town while he was disguised as a human in a wheelchair.

But the plot on the other hand had him interested as it turned out the main merboy character was not attacked by an animal but rather by his own sisters. As it turned out mermaids in there culter held power not the men in there government. And while in the story it was not usually a problem it came down to the fact that the mains sisters abused this standing and had bossed him around a lot. And when he decided he had enough and was going to inform the authorities they tried to kill him.

And at this point in the story wear he was at the sisters wear still at it and wear attempting to kill the main girl character by drawing her only to find out that she was able to breath under water. If that was true then that meant that the main girl was part mermaid. But even if she could breath underwater that still did not change the fact that the mermaid could still kill her. His blood began to boil when the mermaid called the girl a freak of nature for being half and half. And then just like he thought the mermaid got on top of her raising a rock up high to strike her down when.

"AH hem!"

Adrians eyes were brought away from the book as he lowered the article as he was laying on his back to see marinette looking at him intently. There was a slight bit a amusement on her face as she was staying. Then adrian realized that she was not looking at him but rather the book he had in his hands. Seeing this he closed the book and set it aside for later hoping to find out how the merboy was going to save her as he was tangled in his tipped over wheelchair.

"Enjoying the book?" she asked seemingly very curious tone in her voice as she watched him. Adrian took a breath to speak but stopped remembering he still couldn't, so he shifted his head to one side then moved it to the other trying to convey "so' so".

"Realy. I'm sorry you feel that way." the blue bell said somewhat evenly, but adrian knew better as he could see a smirk forming on her face. A frown grew on his as if to call her bluff but instead she continued to play her game. "I am really sorry I gave you such a boring book. I'll need to find a better one next time. But just in case you change your mind I have the sequel and it's much better than the first."

Adrians eyes then went wide as he looked over to the book he had just put down a moment ago 'there's a sequel?' he though his mind now running. That left open many possibilities then 'if there's a sequel then that means the girl survives somehow and the merboy save her?' he thought triumphantly. Then his mind went cold 'wait no the mermaid might still kill the girl or the merboy might save her but he gets killed instead like in beauty in the beast.' he thought dismally. His eyes lit up one more time though with another possibility 'however they both still could win but in the next book focuses on there relationship and the girls mermaid heritage."

His train of thought was once more cut off when his hostess began to laugh making him look at her wide eyed only to realise that she had called his bluff, and he fell for it. Growling irritated by this ploy she played on him only made the girl laugh harder as she began to hold her sides from the laughter.

And just like that as if the karma gods were watching marinette fell sideways on to the side of her bed. Adrian in was momentarily concerned when this happened but her constant lighter told him she was just fine. The seen was on made funnier when she raised a hand up and said "I'm fine" A smile began to form on his face as a silent laugh escaped his throat. His laughter sounded more like coughing but he couldn't help it. It had been literal years since he had laughed and he could not stop himself anymore, as the clumsy act from marinette while bad was too funny for him to stop.

And as the pair laughed at each others expense nether wear once again aware of anything else as for them the scene was endless. And then there laughter could be heard downstairs bringing a smile to several people that day. Now if only it would last forever.

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Wednesday the final day

( sorry I had to go there. Also does this chapter remind anyone of majora do to the day structure of it or the first few days of kh 2? anyone?)

As Wednesday came about it saw marinette helping her mother out down in the store attending to customers, while her pa'pa who was feeling better was out delivering a wedding cake. Unfortunately she could not say the same for tikki as all the work she had done healing adrian and enchanting that luck charm had done quite a number on her and she was out would likely not wake up for a least a day. But that was no problem as things seemed to be going well through paris. And the police wear capable of taking care of themselves for one day. Maybe two.

Despite the recent cold weather it was a beautiful and warm day outside which seemed to case a migration of people who wanted to buy from them. Not that ether she or her ma'ma minded as good business was always welcome.

As noon rolled around (get it roll) it saw the influx of people going down to a trickle. This was a good opportunity to take stock of the remaining inventory. And as marinette checked over there pastry stacks the door to there bakery opened to reveal a failure return customer.

"I'll be with you in a moment." marinette said out loud to there no customer not watching as she was going of some figures to keep track of their monthly totals. However as she muttered to herself writing down the numbers when. "Or I could say hay to you now girl." a sly and up beat voice rang out over the shop. Looking up marinette say alya looking back at her with a cheshire smile that would even give cat noir a run for his money.

Marinette was less than amused by alya's actions as she just gave a tired sigh before saying "alya really?" questioning the girls actions. Alya however not skipping a beat the girls smile morphed into a pout at marinette's words. "You wound me marinette." the redhead committed dramatically. The girl even putting a hand on her forehead to pretend looking faint but as she did there was still the amused glint in her eyes that told her she enjoying herself, a little too much. There wear a few other patrons in the shop her mother aswell who seeing this just looked at the pair assumed. As while it was less so then a few year ago the sight of these two doing this was a regular occurrence.

Marinette just shook her head at the girls antics unable to believe her friend some days despite having known her since preschool. Sighing heavily at the attention decided to throw it back "alya why do I put up with you?" she asked breathlessly. It was true marinette did often daily wonder why she put up with the girl.

Alya however just laughed like it was a good joke she just heard, "oh come on marinette you know I could never leave you," she said in her usual chipper voice. Marinette however just scoffed as she could think of at least a dozen times when the girl left her for various reasons. While none of those reasons wear intentionally milictus it still counted. So decided instead of encouraging the girl she would just ignore her for now till she got the inventory done.

Seeing this instead of being discouraged alya's smile just grew wider. The girl then unexpectedly leaned over the counter wrapping an arm around the girl making her yelp in surprise. "Alya! Stop it" marinette cried out in equal parts surprise and irritation. Alya however instead of stopping just continued to press her advance even harder. "Oh come on girl why would I? After all we go together like this." the girl said crossing her pointer and middle fingers a saying the word "this"

At this marinette was brought out of her struggle at the memory of someone else she knew very well doing the exact same thing a few years back. A certain blonde haired cat boy who had left for his own reasons.

"Marinette?" she heard alya say to her a moment later breaking her from her stupor. "Huh?" she said stupidly looking at the girl who at that point let go as was looking at her concerned. You alright girl you here looking a little vacant there for a minute." the redhead question looking at her he smile fading a little bit. Marinette however just pretended not to notice "Oh sorry it's nothing you just reminded me of something." she told her in an effort to appease the girl.

Alya just looked surprised by this "oh really and what might that be?" she asked curiously. This time it was marinette who slimed slyly. "Oh I don't know. Maybe if you had a blond wig and bound your chest and changed your complexion you could be cat noir." marinette told the girl who had looked at her surprised upon hearing marinette's statement.

Then like her usual self the cheshire smile of her returned as she leaned back over the counter before she spoke "Maybe I am" alya said slyly a big grin on her face as she did. Marinette frowned now realizing that she would have to put up with alya acting like chat noir now. "your impossible." was all the parisian hero could say at the girls antics. Making alya chuckle at her friends expense "you know it." she commented back in return.

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As the day wore on and alya's scenes of humor dragged forwards as the noon turned into mid afternoon and then into early evening. Her Pa'pa had returned and alya stayed around as well helping out, but more often than not just got in the way.

Eventually alya and marinette wear allowed to leave and head upstairs to check on adrian. Which alya greatly accepted much to marinette chagrin at how randomly the girl could act some days. As the ascended to the upper level of the home the pair talked about this and that. Mostly however they talked about adrian and how far he had come in his recovery. But they also talked about what they would do when he was fully better.

Alya said that she could try some of her contacts to clean up his reputation which was a suggestion marinette liked. But the blue bell reminded alya that it was not the legal side they needed to worry about as it was public backlash they needed to keep in mind. Marinette wondered if they could find a place for him wear people would not ether care or pay attention to him. His time it was alya who shot this idea down as unless he went to america or japan or some other place all of paris hated the name adrian agrest.

Both girls making fair points as to why nether plain would work wear left stumped as to what else they could do as they entered the bakery home of marinette. "Well we could try to forge him a new identity." alya then suggested with new found interest.

Marinette gave the idea thought as a new identity would be a good way to hide adrian. After all it was not the person the blamed but rather what his last name stood for. However marinette still had concerns about this "not say that it it's not a good idea but isn't that illegal?" marinette asked point out a slight legal problem. Alya however just stood there in her living room hands on her hips looking at her like she grew a new head. "Girl people change ther name all the time without problems. Besides as far as I am concerned what's worse ostracizing someone from all aspects of life just because of his last name. OR making up a new identity for someone without permission so they can be left alone. Him? Come on which is truly worse?" the red head finally finished her little rant about marionettes concerns on legality.

While it did not sit well with marinette as far as the legalities wear concerned as she strived to be an example of the law. On the other hand marinette did have to admit that alya did have a good point in her explanation of things. Still

Even if what alya said made scenes there were still several holes in the girls plain and marinette was not about to just ignore them. Regardless of marinette actual liking the idea as even if she thought it was there were still problems. "Ok say I agree with you. Even if we did come up with a new name or somthing what then? A name is just a name without legal documents behind it. And while true by calling him by a false name we could avoid problems out in public. That still does not change the fact it may as well be a nickname. As without any documentation adrian wouldn't be able to do anything." marinette spoke voicing her concerns to the girl in a slightly hushed tone hoping to keep adrian from hearing.

Alya however just scoffed undisturbed by marinette's words of caution putting her own spin on the same statement "Oh please marinette. What do libraries, a large amount of your cardholder services, a large amount of bank functions, and most stores have in common?" she asked in a curt fashion.

This took marinette of guard though as she honestly could not make heads or tails of what she meant. After all what could the bank a library, stores and credit and debit card company's have it common. But that made no scenes as they wear all different methods of business that had little to nothing in common.

It was then that alya cupid in "give up?" she asked curiously. But true to alya fashion she did not give marinette enough time to finish. Bending over to get in marinette's fact raising her pointer finger up in between them. "See what they all have in common is a lot of them never ask for an id or social security number." she said tapping her nose a few time while saying it.

Annoyed by this act marinette took a swipe at alya to get her hand away only to have the girl back up out of the way. Alya laughed at her attempted to shoo her away before continuing with her point. "Any way my point is that most banks for example once someone makes an account it doesn't matter uses it. The bank sure doesn't care so long as the person who opened it doesn't complain. Nore do they care wear the money comes from. Same thing with a lot of places, as so long as the right password is used and none complains they don't care." alya said in a matter of fact way.

Marinette pouted slightly at alya for the way she was acting sounding like a big no it all. But she did have to admit alya made a good point, as now that she thought about it no one ever really questioned what people did with their accounts and things so long as no suspicious activity was done. So with that in mind she could open an account for adrian for example and so long as he had all the right information it didn't matter who used it.

Catching on to the reds point easily but at the same time she also could not help pock fun as well. "I think I get what your saying alya but I must say you have a vary criminal mind. Is there something your not telling me that a certain heroine should know?" she asked teasingly. This caused alya's eyes to widen in shock "hey now I'll have you know that I am not of a criminal mind." she said proudly posing like a superhero. "But" she started up again with a wicked glint "I did do an article on fraud last month." the girl added. Casing the girl to let out a huff of air "I knew it." marinette committed knowing her friend was never as innocent as she climbed to be.

However getting back on topic there was still one main concern to deal with. While sure financial and legal there wear ways to hide adrian from those who would her him, but the fact remained he still looked like adrian. "Alya you are forgetting the fact that ya maybe we can hide him but what happens if he goes into public. We can forge things all day but we can't forge people's memories incase someone recognises him.

This conversation was stopped when they both heard the door open behind them. Turning to face there new arrival revealed marinette mother sabine. The mother of one a look of need on her face one that spoke of importance something that had to be done. Walking into the room with purpose as she entered walking up to the girls in her living room.

Marinette grew slightly worried at this as she did not often see that look as her ma'ma usually saved it for emergencies or when she was in trouble with both her parents. "Is something the matter ma'ma?" the she asked concern seeping into her voice hoping it was nothing serious.

Her ma'ma on the other hand look somewhat taken aback by this question confused. "Wrong?" sabine asked out loud unsure of what her daughter meant. Then a look of recognition came over her as she seemed to catch on "oh no dear sorry." she said apologizing to marinette for the mix up.

The then stepped within arms length of the girls before speaking again "no there's nothing wrong marinette its just that I remembered something important." she stated to them. Both marinette and alya looked at each other for a moment till alya just shrugged unsure. Sabine then put a hand into her pocket before removing while held between two fingers was a silver ring.

Marinettes eyes went wide at seeing it as she knew this ring. "Ma'ma is that?" she began to ask but could not finish. Sabine however just nodded in confirmation before answering "yes its adrians ring. I took it off him when he was out so that it wouldn't get lost." she said to the pair before holding it out to marinette. Marinette the took the ring carefully and graciously from her mother. "I would have given it back sooner, but I forgot I had it after a while" sabine confessed casing alya to laugh lol style.

"Wow so that's where you get it mari." the redhead said between laughs before falling back into the couch. "Alya! Marinette complained only to whirl around when she head laughing from behind he as well. "MA' MA!" marinette complained again this time at her mother who was.

"Ahh! You two are impossible!" she shouted as she stormed off towards her room while the pair wear trying to recover. She could hear there protest for her to return but she just ignored them as she opened the trap to her room and locked it behind her. "Those two are unbelievable. " she whispered as she made her way to adrian.

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Meanwhile Adrian was having an alright time as the day progressed he had woken up a bit latter then he would have like. But other then that it was a good day as after eating he went right back to the book he was given. He would have read it a bit before bed but the lights must have been on a motion sensing timer as they went out on their own.

Ether way when he stopped reading last time one of the merboy's sisters was about to kill the main girl. He was so worried that she might get killed off but at the last second the girlfriend who works at the local marine center tagged the mermaid with a tranquilizer dart that they apparently use for elephant seals when they show up now and then. The mermaid however was so shocked by what she got hit by that when she overcame her shock and tried to kill the girl again it was too late as she passed out from the drugged dart.

Adrian was so relieved to see the girl survive her encounter with the mermaid as it was a major loud off his mind. He even had trouble sleeping the night before because he did not know what happened. Unfortunately the story sorta dropped off in the consistency department but it was still a good way to start to wrap it up. They took the mermaid back to the biology center for a crud prison sentence till they could find a better place to put her wear she could not case any more harm.

The pair then started to discuss their problem as the boy had two more sisters both of which unlike him could walk. That meant that they not only had to deal with two angry sisters and possibly their friends. But had to worry about getting ambushed in land. And there only apparent weakness was staying out of water for two long.

However this was wear he had to stop as once again he was interrupted once more, this time by the trap door opening below. Unlike last time he was paying more attention to his surroundings and was not going to get caught off guard. Thankfully it was just marinette as he could hear her mutter something that he could not make out. He was just glad marinette was his only guest at the moment as he set his book aside. have sworn he heard alya voice down stairs

But that was besides the point as he heard the bluebell walking up the stairs and into his line of sight. She seemed a bit irritated but other then that she seemed more relieved than anything. Though what she was reliaev about he did not know, maybe all that noise down stairs was a bit of a mess that she cased and was asked to come up here for a while.

Ether way when she sat on his left side he could tell there was a look upon her face that told him she had something she wanted to share. So as she got comfortable he watched her intently until she stopped moving. At first adrian thought that she was going to speak but instead she took a single deep breath. This seemed to have a positive effect on her as her muscles immediately stopped tensing.

She was silent for a few more seconds until she finally spoke "I'm sorry if all that noise down stairs bothered you. Alya came over and as you may know she can be a bit of a handful." she commented clearly trying to sound tasteful.

And if to prove her point they suddenly became aware of someone trying to open the locked trap door. "Come on marinette open up I was just kidding. Marinette? Are you there? You and adrian better not be making out once I figure out how to pick this lock." the redhead commented through the trap making the pair turn red.

However adrian had bigger fear as he looked over to marinette face shining red, eyes filled with panic. Looking at marinette she did not look much better with her cracks aflame with a bright red shade. However the girl soon noticed he feared expression on his face. "You don't need to worry." she started her voice uneven from alya's teasing. Taking another breath to steady herself marinette continued "I... alya found out about you before you woke up. B-but she promised not to say anything." marinette added quick.

"You bet I did not say anything. I'm not that shallow." alya added somehow hearing the whole thing. Adrian however gave a heavy sigh of relief, after all he got hear at marinette house well over two weeks ago if alya wanted to she would have done him in already. "Well any way." marinette said after awhile "I want to give you something"

Hearing this adrian gave her an odd look as she held out her close hand which he was just now noticing. He stared at it for a moment before raising a slightly shaky hand of his own. With his hand now under hers she placed her hand in his own. That once she seemed sure that his hand would not moved she opened her closed hand dropping something into his.

As marinette pulled her hand away so he could see what she had given him. And when he did he almost choked in surprise it was the silver version of the black cat ring. Immediately he brought the ring close to him checking it over for damaged, however seeing none he let out a sigh of relief. His gaze then went to marinette giving her a look of both anger and confusion as he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

Marinette for her part seemed somewhat intimidated by this and she laughed nervously. "I-its n-not what you think." she tried to say, only to for him to give her a look that said "oh really." ready to give protest if not for his throat. Marinette seemed to steel herself after this as she went to explain herself "you see when you first got here ma"ma decided it would be a good Idea to hold onto your ring for you." she explained. This got his attention as he looked back down at the ring in his hand. 'Wear they holding on to it for me so I wouldn't loss it?' he thought to himself.

He looked back up to marinette to confirm this only to see her smile at him before nodding before she gave a nod. His anger subsided upon hearing this 'I should have known better marinette's not a thief.' he thought to himself as he hefted the ring a few time in his hand glad to have it back.

He looked back to marinette a moments latter before giving a nod back in return as thanks. Marinette got the message "your welcome." she said not but a few moments later in return. The pair wear silent for a short while after this simple staring at each other marinette not knowing what to say to the boy and adrian unable to say anything.

There happy little moment was cut short when alya finally freed the trap swinging it open loudly. "I'm back!" the redhead called out. Before making her way to them. Adrian watched marinette turn to alya irritated by the girls action. "Alta be careful will you I don't need that broken." she complained to the girl. "And who did you even get in here for that matter?" she questioned next in short order.

Adrian watched as alya just shrugged as she neared them before replying "oh come on marinette a door like that is going to take a heck of a lot more of a beating before it breaks. And as for who I got in here I told you I would pick the lock." she answered the pair of questions in order of which they wear asked. Marinette stood up to face alya down fuming now "seriously you pick locks no wonder I said you had a criminal mind you are one" she stared angrily. Oh come on it's not that bad and I never use it for such low reasons" alya said to the girl nonchalantly. "ALYA!" marinette cried out in return because of this.

As the pair continued adrian just watched as the silent observer to the scene before him. Unsure of what to do as the pair argued. Ultimately adrian decided the best course of action was nothing as he pulled his attention back to the ring in his hand.

As he traced the silvery metal he was tempted to put it on just to make sure it was the real ring as his scenes wear still dulled from his weakened state and could not tell. However he sided against it as putting on the ring if it was the real thing meant that the pair in front of him would see plagg. And he was not interested in trying to explain why a cat popped out of a magic ring.

'I will wait till later once everyone is asleep. Then I will use the ring and leave.'. With his mind made up and his plains set all he had to do was wait and bide his time till later that evening. Then he would finally be free, and marinette and her family would be safe as well. All he had to do was wait.

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It was late at night the sun having set some time ago it was well past midnight and by now all the people in the house wear asleep. Well almost everyone as adrien agreste was still very much awake and was waiting. For all the people in the house to fall asleep so he could make his escape and leave the dupan-chang residence before he cased any real harm to them.

After all he finally had the black cat ring, his finally had the ring back and the whole time it was with marinette's mother bless her soul. She did it for safekeeping so that it would not get lost while he was out cole which he was eternally grateful for. While all the occupants of the house wear likely asleep and probably had been for well over an hour he wanted to be extra cautious to be sure just incase. He waited at least two or three hours more than what was probably necessary to do it.

As he pulled out the ring from under the covers he hold it up so he could see it better in the dim light of the city around him. Twirling the item in his finger as he gazed upon its smooth metal surface. A surface that held so much promise but also great destruction for those who did not know who to use it properly. It was this ite he used to destroy his house and to expose his father as hawk moth. It was this item he added his lady time and time again at her beckon call. And it was with this item he would get rid of the one thing that stood in marinette way. The one thing that was going to slowly ruin her life forever. himself.

Letting the ring fall into his palm he brought his other hand out from under the blanket. Then he tossed the ring into his left hand before positioning it between his two fingers. On his right he splayed the fingers of his hand before angling the decorative ring finger towards the ring. He then brought the ring close to his finger before pausing.

His mind then went to all the good things that had happened since he had arrived here. While he did not have any particularly strong memories save for maybe the food. But the one thing that did stick out was the strong sense of family he got from the people here. Even though he locked his heart he could not help but feel a feeling of longing and connection to those that wear around him as long as he was in the house. And for a few minutes he wondered if staying would be so harmful.

But then he shook his head trying to clear his mind of false hope as he did so. He knew better then anyone that the bearer of the black cat was just a walking bad luck charm. He needed to leave so that marinette's family could continue having good times without him being in the way.

So with his resolve reaffirmed he slipped the ring upon his finger and in a small flash a familiar black kwami popped out. The kwami lay on his stomach for a few seconds clearly dazed by getting summoned again. But after a few seconds got up and shook his head in a similar way that adrian did a few moments before.

The black cat then looked up to see adrian fine and well staring back at him surprised the kwami. However the surprise was a short lived evant as a wide smile came onto the cats face. "ADRI-" plage began to shout in glee seeing his holder fine and well. But before fe could finish adrian silenced him with "p-p-la-gg cl-awwws o-ut." adrian struggled to say forcing his voice to croak out the three word phrases that he could never forget.

However despite adrian's troubles it worked as the ring activated and pulled plagg into the ring before the latter could even say other wise. And in a bright green flash of light adrian was no more and cat noir had taken his place.

Feeling new found strength filling his body and specifically his legs, Sitting up he felt rejuvenated as he did so not feeling a slight bit of fatigue. Bringing a hand in front of his face before forming a tight fist. Then immediately after threw a mock punch to test his level of strength. "It's not as good as it used to be but it will do" he said out loud satisfied. He knew he was much stronger than this but given his earlier predicimt it was what he was expecting. Plus he also knew for what he wanted it would do.

So getting up out of bed and standing up for the first time in literally weeks he had to stretch out as his legs felt ever so cramped. As he stretched he could feel a very angry presens in the back of his mind. Clearly plagg was not happy with what he was doing but he couldn't care less as he was doing what needed to be done.

Talking a set forward was somewhat hard and a bit shaky at first but ultimately successful. However it was when he took his next step that he felt something underfoot. Looking down he could see with his night vision in perfect clarity the book marinette had given him. Looking down at the book he felt somewhat sad as he almost finished it as the two main characters wear trying to figure out what to do next. In fact he only had about ten pages left and in the end he was saddening to him as he may never find out what happens next now.

Picking up the the book so to not damage it brought it with him on his way down from the bed. Making his way down to the main level of the room he proceeded straight to marinette dest which he could see filled with a number of things. Art surprise, different swatches, at least a dozen different sketches of different states of winter themed attire. Casing a small smile to creep onto adrians face "she never changes" he said out loud happy for the girl to finally have the chance at doing what she always wanted.

Raising the book up looking down at the article amused by himself at the fact that he was obsessively reading a book about merpeople the past few days. It was simple but he honestly enjoyed he mundane pleasure. When he live at home with his father there was no such thing as mundane. Everything had to be extravagant and over the top other wise it was not proper. Though to be honest before his father fell to corruption he theorized that his father did this to distract himself from his mother.

However this was besides the point as he heft the book in his hands once and twice more before finally placing it on the desk in a clean spot. After a second of staring he took a step back and headed towards the stairs leading outside.

Reaching the stairs beginning his ascent slowly partly because of his body not being used to this activity but also because of other reasons. It was almost painful to walk up the stairs as he did because of so many good memories that he had in this place. And despite his feelings towards the situation and towards his lady as well, he could honestly see himself settling down in a life like the one marinette had. Perhaps no sewing but something in a vine like she was doing. And when he really thought about it he could even see himself finding a life with marinette and her family, or even just marinette as she had a similar aura around her that ladybig had. Also they had so much in common to boot, not to mention how well they got along as well.

But he had to remember he was leaving because he cared as he could not bring himself stay knowing that there were people who would hurt them just to get to him. If something happened to marinette and her family he could never forgive himself.

So reaching the top he opened the hatch grateful for marinette forgetting to lock it revealing the cold night air on his face. There were no stars out that night as there was a blanket of cloud which looked of the promise of snow. As he stepped out he could feel the mental protests in his mind telling him that plagg was trying to talk him out of what he was planing.

Adrian however would not change his mind as he turned around to look back inside the room soaking in all its details. As it was likely going to be the last time he ever saw it. He did this for several seconds before finally pulling himself out of the open passage and outside. And with that he leapt from the rooftop to go to the one place he knew might still be safe for a while.

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Thursday.

It was thursday a single week before december and a day that marinette would never forget. It was the day that everything changed between her and adrian. For better or for worse is truly up to the beholder however it was a big change in there relationship none could deny. As the events of that fateful day had reverberations that would last till even past the fatad battle.

It started like any other marinette was having a dream about adrian finally accepting her for who she was. When her alarm went off ruining the illusion as the girl reached her hand over to the living rooms table in an effort to find her phone and shut it off. But with her head still buried in a pillow and blankets it was impossible.

So lifting her head and revealing the disaster that was her hair for all to see. Marinette was a mess this morning as her hair was a literal mess going in all directions like a cheerleaders pompom. She had dark rings under her eyes from her rude awakening combined with the late night she had the day before. A trail of saliva going down one side her face as she lazily looked around her current spot to find her phone.

Looking over to the table she seen that the phone was just out of reach on the far side of the table. It was then she remembered she did that on purpose so that should would not simply turn it off. Swinging her feet over the side of the couch on to the floor and into her slippers before bending forwards and grabbing the phone. Looking at the alarm function on it before swiping a finger over the cold surface turning off the noise that was starting to give her a headache.

Setting the phone back down onto the table for a minute as she stretched out her tired body letting out a long exhausted yawn at the same time. After a few seconds of this she lowered her arms letting them rest in her lap. It was then she took notice of the moistness on her lip and out of instinct brought a hand up to wipe it away. After this she brought her hand wear she could see looking down at it her mind only just starting to function properly. "Ah not again." she mutter annoyed by what she saw.

After giving herself a few minutes she checked her phone for time and saw that it was coming up on eight oclock. Marinette just stayed at the clock on her phone display as she wished she could get some more sleep. But that was not going to happen as she was starting to get behind in her work and she had a number of orders she still had yet to finish.

So ignoring her tired ness she decided to go upstairs to get a change of clothes and check on adrian at the same time. Opening the hatch she entered her room and workshop and made her way over to the dresser. However before she made it to said piece of furniture something caught her attention in the corner of her eye.

Looking over to her desk she took note of a single blue. Changing direction and heading for her desk to check up on the item on it. When she got close almost immediately recognising it as the book she had given adrian. In her tired mind she just smiled at the thought of him reading such a silly book. In fact if she wear to be honest she was not even the one who got it as as it and its sequel wear gifts that she had received nearly ten years ago now. "He must have finished it and set it here for me to put away." she concluded staring at the book for a few seconds.

Here eyes then snapped open fully awake her tiredness gone from her body as a new though ran through her mind. 'Wait a minute adrian can't walk. So he couldn't have put it here and I most certainly didn't place it here. And I was the last one to see adrian last night." marinette said worry rising as the night before came back to her.

Marinette then looked up at the bunk wear wear adrian was supposed to be sleeping "oh no." was all she could say before running around to the front. She then made her ascent up the stairs two at a time only o see to her horror the bed empty before her. marinette practically felt her heart stop at the scene before her as she stared at the bed. Mind frozen with fear as the truth of the situation hit her in full. The gravity of what was going on casing her knees to give and making her sink to the ground. Only one thing came to mind as to the possible reason behind all this. "Adrians run away."

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Oh man I can't believe the work that went in here that was quit a mouth full. In fact I am tempted to break this chap up into two just to make it easier to swallow next time. Ah well too late now. Any case thanks all for sticking around to hear my after chapter ramblings. This chapter like I said before is quite the dozzy if I do say so myself. And long. But for those hoping that this is the norm don't as it will be a long time before I make another one this long as it took me nearly two months to achieve. Something I am sure none of you want to have happen again. So the next one will be shorter for sure I mean come on 40 pages for one chapter. Ya the S&R of adrian is not going to take that long. Or maybe it might as I am sure not about to tell you.

Well any rate that's enough chit chat (get it) thanks again all for sticking around hope to see you all back again next time. Leave a fav and a follow if you want or don't I don't mind. Please review if you have a little time I live off reviews and as your feedback keeps my alive and going on these stories and I hope you all have a miracual day.

Tune in next time to see or read the search of adrian agreste. Wear will he go. Will marinette, ladybug, alya, or someone else find him?

Who will find him first? Will they find him?

And will marinette convince him to return home?

Who know find out next time.

Same cat time same cat channel. (I love the old batman :)


	11. Chapper IX lost and found

Hay miraculous fans its me and I am back way earlier then last time. See I felt bad for not updating in a vary long time last time. So this last few week I relay booked so to speak on this chapter to make it up to all of my readers. Any case this is the chapter some of you had been waiting for Adrian ran away and now everyone is looking for him. Ether way I will end it here and i hope everyone enjoy's this chapter and I will have notes for my next update at the bottom so enjoy again and good day.

"GONE! What do you mean gone!" wear the words that the marinette heard coming from her phone as she spoke to alya. Marinette for her part had to cover her ear from the shout coming from the digital recording of her friend. Currently marinette was in her room pacing frantically while she was on the phone with alya. The whole thing being observed by tikki who was woken up by all the noise.

Marinette only minutes before had discovered adrian had disappeared and disappeared in the middle of the night without a sound. Despite the fact that he could not walk no less which was still casing marinette to pinch herself. She had looked all over the house and bakery before raising the alarm, as there was still a chance that he was in the house and just could not get back to bed. Now she held little hope for this to be true but she had to be sure before calling for a search.

However just as she thought he was know wear to be found so by that point there was nothing left to do but try to find him before he got to far. After she searched the house over she told her ma'ma and pa'pa. Tom had a delivery early to an important client that morning but once he was done said he would begin searching for him. Sabine unfortunately had to keep an eye on the shop, and while she was willing to close to help look marinette told her not to. Unfortunately that would look to suspicious. Plus they needed someone to stay at the shop incase he came back and to act as a relay to herself and tom so they did not both serch the same place twice.

Marinette for her part decided to get some help by contacted alya who was clearly not taking well as she was getting chewed out by her. "I don't believe it how could you let him just walk out the front door. That's what locks are for. Beised I thought he couldn't walk yet." she yelled from her side of the phone. Marinette winced as she was starting to get a headache, though she had to admit alya had a point. She knew that adrien was depressed and being antisocial something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.

"Alya I know, I know. and you can reprimand me later but right now we need to find adrian first. Once we have him back you can lecture me as much as you want." she said hurriedly as they did not have a lot of time as there was a cold front coming in with the promise of snow. If they did not find him soon he could freeze to death as he only had the pajamsa's they had given him. Of course they had not bothered with coat and other things yet as they wanted to wait till he was better. After all until now he had not left her bed unless it was to bath so there was no point in getting more cloths just yet.

Alya was quite for several seconds making marinette wonder if she had lost the connection. But eventual alya spoke up "...alright girl I put off giving you all the mistakes you've made till later. Like you said finding adrian comes fir- yes sabrina I said adrian get over it. Now wh….yes adrian that adrian….I don't care and you better help me find him and not tell anyone about ether….I am your employer so get over it!" marinette for what is was worth was shocked at what she was hearing. While she could not hear sabrina she now knew that alya was at her office, but that was un important given how sabrina was there.

She was on the phone for at least a minute before alya finally came back "ok sorry about that don't worry about sabrina she's in on it know and we will start looking. I'll also check all the anti adrian sights just incase someone saw are adrien." alya said with pride and confidence to her.

"Thanks alya" was she could say as while they may butt heads now and then but she was truly too good for her. Marinette then herd alya scoff "don't need to thank me what are friends for. Besides we need to find adrian. So don't worry we will find him it will just take time. Keep in touch and let me know if anything changes sound good?" she asked after her little pep talk. Even though marinette knew alya wouldn't see it she smiled as she answered "ya sounds good.

"Alright then call me if you need me talk to ya later girl." alya quipped in at the last second. "Alright by" marinette said in response to alya before the both hung up. This left her standing in her room for several seconds from the void left by the ended call.

After standing around a while she looked over to tikki who had been quite throughout the phone call. "Ok tikki we need to head out." marinette said suddenly rushing over to her coat before grabbing her purse and opening it "come on." the blue bell insisted.

Tikki however did not go into the bag but rather went towards the head of her holder "marinette paris is huge we are never going to find him with so few of us looking even with my luck." she said to the blue haired girl.

Marinette just growled in irritation at the remark "then I'll search as ladybug. Tikki spots" the girl exclaimed ready to go heroine. however marinette was interrupted almost immediately after she began to call her transformation with tikki putting her hands on her mouth earning imediat protest. The parisian girl was going to protest but after seeing the ladybug spirit looking at her with pleading eyes stopped her struggling.

Backing away from marinette looking back at her waiting several seconds before speaking to make sure that marinette would not interrupt her. "Marinette please listen to me I know you worried I am as well but your not thinking clearly. We need a plain if adrian left of his own accord he most likely does not want to be found." the spirit said with wisdom speaking of years of experience.

Marinette however had stopped listening as she was heart broken at the thought of him leaving. 'Was it something I said? Did he accidentally find all those old pictures of himself? I know I was a bad fan girl for a few years but I swear I got better. Honestly I was only trying to help and while I still have feelings for him I'm not even sure what my feelings are yet" marinette's mind began to spin out of control once again as she began to think of the worst case scenarios.

"MARINETTE!" the sudden shout frightened marinette slightly causing her to jump before looking at tikki in great surprise. Tikki rarely shouted or even raised her voice so whenever she did it was always a great surprise. Tikki just watched marinette who was still frozen with surprise, however after a mini eternity tikki let out a sigh that sounded of stress of dealing with her holder. "You need to calm down already" tikki began to say to a now listening marinette. "now listen already marinette I have a plain to find adrian it you would just listen." the moment tikki said plain and adrian in the same sentence saw marinette sitting down front and center in her rolling chair in front of tikki.

Tikki could not help but roll her eyes at marinette's actions 'are all humans act like this these days?' She wondered silently seeing as how class was now in session for her on a new power. "Ok marinette I'm going to tell you about a new power that you have that might be able to help us." the spirit said adamantly. Marinette however still looked sceptical about the idea "I don't know tikki if your luck arua won't work even when boosted by my ladybug form what good will anything else do." marinette pointed out dryly knowing her core powers very well and last she check ladybug did not come with homing devices.

Tikki on the other hand was unphased why should she be as she knew all of ladybugs powers. "We are going to try dowsing." tikki said confidently with her usual positive attitude. Marinette however was just confused by the kwami tilting her head sideways perplexed. Dowsing you mean like taking two rods and seeing wear the lines cross? And also how does dowsing count as good luck" she asked remembering hearing about dowsing a few years ago. She honestly thought the idea was nonsense even knowing magic existed as two ordinary metal rods had no magical powers.

Tikki however shook her head in disagreement before giving her answer, "while you're not wrong marinette your not right ether." the spirit responded. However seeing the empty look on marinette's face the spirit decided she needed to elaborate. "Alright marinette" she started gaining marinette attention, "you are right normal dowsing would require something like wire or rods…" she said making a dramatic pause for effect. "We on the other hand are going to use ladybugs yo-yo." the spirit finishing her speech giving marinette a moment to process. Tikki then paused for a second in thought before speaking again "also as for why it's one of your powers don't most people thinks it's lucky when they find something that's lost?" she asked.

Marinette thought over what tikki had just told her and she did have to admit it did make some scenes. She could understand why finding a lost object out of the blue magic or not could be luck, But that still begged a question. "If you had that power the whole time why didn't we use it to find adrian in the first place!". Marinette was beyond livid right now, while she knew she could be a handful and made mistakes in both her hero life and her personal life especially when it came to adrian. But why of all reasons would tikki keep from her until now a power that could help them find adrian.

But it was not just the fact that "And forget adrian. Why would you keep this power to yourself for so long?! Instead of using this power so late to find adrian after he ran off a second time we could have used it to find hawk moth before he nearly destroyed three city blocks around his house!" marinette shouted having no reservations about risking someone else hearing them. Tikki on the other hand winced everytime she shouted looking hurt and disappointed however not in marinette.

Once marinette took a break from her rant to breath tikki took this chance to speak, "marinette please believe me I would have told you sooner but up until now this power would not have helped us at all in finding adrian or hawk moth." the kwami begin to say. Marinette looked in the ladybugs direction angrily but said nothing. Seeing this as a sign to continue tikki did so. "Marinette the dowsing power is by far probably your most fickle power. While it can help you find what you're looking for, but it only works on living things no objects unless there magical." marinette's expression softened a bit as a more inquisitive one took the place of her current one.

Taking a silent breath of relief seeing that she was getting thru to the girl was good though the spirit was not going to blame her ether. 'Marinette has every right to be upset given the situation. And telling her about a miracle traking power now of all times makes it look like I was withholding information which is not helping ether.'.

"Then why?" the words rung out to the spirit making her look at the bluebell whos face had grown dark and distant. "Why would you keep it to yourself? Why even bother telling me now?" marinette demanded looking at the spirit only for tikki to gasp. As trailing down her face wear two tracks of tears thick and heavy her eyes red and bloodshot. "Marinette" tikki whispered.

The pair wear silent again for about a minute nether saying anything and simply stared at one another. Marinette from her being on the verge of an emotional breakdown and tikki unsure how to make marinette feel better. 'This whole situation is out of hand' tikki thought to herself wondering how to fix this mess. After all it was her responsibility as a kwami to aid her holder, even with matters of the heart. So choosing her words carefully she spoke "Marinette the dowsing power dose work on live people yes." she restated to the blue haired youth casing her eyes to focus on the spirit. "But the power requires you to have an object or even a piece of the person you looking for." she explained

"Marinette the reason why using the dowsing power to find hawk moth would be in effective is because we would need to have something the person was in physical contact with for extended periods of time. In short dowsing is kind of like having a dog track what you're looking for magicly. The only time we knew hawk moth touched anything was the akuma but once they are purified there wouldn't be enough of his aura left on the to trace." Tikki said explained in detail about the process of dowsing. After a few seconds upon hearing this marinette mannerisms changed a bit becoming more relaxed and loosen. Tikki herself started to relax now that she seemed to have gotten through, and it appears that marinette was starting to think more rationally now which was even better.

However it was also clear that marinette was thinking of a reason to blame to come up with a reason to pin this situation on someone else. But tikki knew she needed to stamp this out as blaming others wouldn't help anyone. "Marinette I know what your thinking please don't think that way. You know how dangerous leaving one of the akuma unpurified can be. you remember what happened to stone heart. And speaking of the other akuma most of the time the akuma are not even trying to hide so there would be ne reason to track them this way. Much less track them at all." the spirit reasoned with marinette.

Marinette loathed as she was to admit it tikki was right. The vary idea of leaving a akuma unchecked so they could dows hawkmoth posed to much risk. Even leaving an akuma unpurified for a couple of hours almost destroyed the city. And sure she was able to repair the damage, but what would happen if they tried to use dowsing only to accidental release hundreds more akuma on to the city. Hundreds of lady wifi, hundreds of stormy weather, hundreds of animan. Just to name a few. If they had unleashed a hundred or more copies of their most powerful enemies. Marinette doubted even if they wear as strong as all the ladybugs in the past combined she could win. Heck she bet even with cat noir at her side she would still loose.

Still even if she agreed it was still a hard pill to swallow, though even with all that said she still had a question. "What about adrian?" marinette asked out of the blue getting a "huh" from tikki, "what about adrian" marinette elaborated "why couldn't we use it to find adrian before the first time he vanished?" the young woman asked.

Tikki however expected this question but she already had the answer " even if we did we would still need a object that the person's aura would be imprinted on. And the object would have to be in contact with the person recently as an aura imprint on an object gets weaker as time goes on." the kwami explained simply breaking marinette's bubble even further then it was before.

"Marinette it still wouldn't work as much like as just like dogs and scent trails the effects wheres off. By the time you found out that adrian was missing it was already too late to use any object adrian owned that might still be intact at the mansion." the spirit finished explaining to the girl making the situation sound even more hopeless to marinette's ears. The girl fell back into the chair hands going into her hair in distress at the situation.

Tikki however flew over to her holder landing on her shoulder casing marinette to look at her. "This is all my fault." the girl stated mournfully to the spirit, "if I had done more then maybe adrian wouldn't be homeless right now with the city hating him." her voice hurt and broken. Tikki could see what she was doing to herself and was going to put a stop to it. "Marinette this is not your flute. You did not make adrien run away he did that on his own because of his pride and his belief that he is responsible for his father." she said to the girl

However this did little as the girl looked away again iritating the spirit. "Listen to me marinette!" she shouted gett the girl to look at her once again making tikki smile. "You are not to blame. Marinette you may have made more mistakes in regards of how to properly use your powers as you have used them for selfish reasons before." she started to say casing marinette to look more down cast.

"BUT!" tikki begin again said ethnicizing the word " you are by far the most active ladybug I have ever had." the spirit said proudly to a now wided eyed marinette. "Not only do you deal with having to keeping your powers a secret but also dealing with family, work, your friends, and all of paris. Most ladybugs being ladybug was there job and there life. While those who did keep it secret wear ether well kept having all the money they needed or had little shops that no one would notice being gone. A few did not ever worry about money all together as they lived off the land. But you marinette have all these things in your life you keep secret while just trying to have a life. So you need to stop being so hard on yourself you make mistakes but you always learned from them. But right now we need to find adrian and tell him he has a place her he can call home" she finished boldly tiny chest puffed out a smug look upon her face.

"Thanks tikki." the girl said feeling much better now, in fact the last time someone had done this was cat noir and in honesty she did miss the fool at time like this. Yes while the cat drove her nuts and was not her type as she hated flurty she did miss him when she was down. He always had the ability to put a smile on her face.

But she pushed these thoughts aside as she needed to worry about adrian not cat noir. Tikki was right she could deal with her own feelings later. Right now adrian was out in paris alone and still weak lost in his own pride and grief. The needed to show adrian he was still wanted and there was a place for him if he would only allow it.

Getting up from her spot dusting herself off ready to find adrian. However paused when she remembered something "We still need something that adrien was in contact…" but marinette paused mid sentence as the light bulb went off above her head " the book." she exclaimed. Rushing over to wear the book sat on her desk she picked it up and showed it to tikki. "Will this work?" she asked tikki quickly hope rising in her as the spirit smiled before nodded in return. 'This just might work

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

Marinette was nervous as she stood on the roof a secluded building in paris in her ladybug form. She chose this building as she knew it was vacant but also because it was several blocks away from the bakery. The reason for this was due to the fact that she did not want to risk having anyone who knew her seeing her. Given how she had a personal book from her room she wanted to make sure no one saw her and using this abandoned building fit that roll.

Looking down at the book in her hand before raising her other hand with her yo-yo with in. "I sure hope this works." she said to herself as she set about to try dowsing. Placing the book carefully on the ground she grabbed her yo-yo in one hand and the string in the other before pulling out some line. She would need quite a bit to do what she needed as once she tied one end to the book 'ya that's right tied' even she did not believe it when tikki told her. But she needed enough to swing like a plumb line.

Once she finished pulling line however she began to wonder something she hadn't given too much though to in a few years. "I wonder if chat is in paris again I really could use his help." she confessed openly and almost immediately she could feel tikki in her mind trying to reassure her. Even though she couldn't hear tikki just knowing she was there was a great help, which was why she wished chat was around as cases wear close family or friends are involved wear always hard. And even though she was annoyed by him marinette also appreciated the kitty being around at times like this as he kept her in the present preventing her from breaking down.

With that in mind and feeling tikki giving her the thumbs up decided to give it a try. Taking the main body of her yo-yo in hand she opened up the top and activated the phone and tracking feature of her device. Over the years she had tried to call cha noir and track him but she had little luck with that. She was a day time heiron and chat always prefered night so even when they did work together meeting up for patrols was a pain.

But that aside as her tracking device begin to work its magic she thought about her partner and how long it had been since she last seen him. She was not worried for his safety as again chat was more than capable of taking care of himself, and she doubted master fu would choose someone who was not qualified for the job. But still she did miss him a little bit as the patrols wear always too quiet these days. Plus she could not deny that when he wasn't fooling around he was very helpful to her cause.

It was not long after that she heard a loud beeping from her yo-yo making her eyes grow wide as her attention was brought back to the device. On her device was a map of paris with a paw print smack dab in the middle of the screen. "Cat noir" she mouthed in surprise as it had literally been years since she had seen any trace of him in paris. Freanticly fumbling she tried to hit the call button but the single was lost only a few moments later leaving a confused and marinette who just stared at the device at a loss.

"What just." she started to say but marinette's words caught in her throat as she looked at the now empty map. She could even feel the confusion and sadness from tikki in her mind also affected by the loss. Marinette herself felt slightly betrayed as she knew from experience that when either of them perform a trace on each other it alerts the holder of the miraculous that another holder is looking for them. It meant that chat noir knew she was looking for him and he ignored her.

It hurt and she felt water tear up in the corners of her eyes as while she was not his biggest fan she did consider him a close friend. "Stupid ally cat" ladybug cried out as a few tears fell from her face. Why did that boy have to play with her like this, first he would never leave her alone and now when she tries to find him he began to play keep away. "stupid , stupid stupid cat!" she repeated several times as she tried to stop crying.

Today was just not her day first finding adrian, then stress at home, then dealing with that moth, then adrian running away, and now this. The past few weeks wear just taking their toll on her emotions as it was a roller coaster ride from bad to good to bad again tikkis presence made itself known again as ladybug could feel the spirit giving her sympathy's from there connection. Sinfling slightly the holder muttered a "thank you." to the spirit.

Ladybug caught slightly before taking a deep breath of air raising her head skywards as if you have her tears taken away. Taking a few more breaths to steady herself ladybug went back to her previous task. Remembering what tikki said to her before leaving home about how to dows.

" **All right marinette first you're going to need an item that has his arua. And while that book is bigger than what you would normally use it should work with a few modifications to the dowsing."**

So taking the line she had she laid it out on the ground before reaching over to the book she had brought with her. With the book in hand she placed it over the line length wise. She then took the two ends and begin to tie a note with them. After this she spun the book with way's taking the line and flipping the book over to tie the other side to make a note that was reminiscent of a classic present ribbon. Inspecting her handy work a moment before she continued with the next step she felt tikki in her mind approving her work with told it was alright

" **Ok marinette first you need to tie a knot around the book with you string. Normally you would put the item you want to dows with inside the yo-yo but given how big the book is that won't work. But there's nothing to worry about as the effect will be the same."**

Having been satisfied by her work ladybug stood up holding her contraption by the book. Taking the line in hand she tugged it a few times to make sure it would not come undone. Seeing that it was holding strong though she was happy with the work and proceeded to start phase two.

" **Once you have it tied up hold the line, or book in this case with the yo-yo pointing towards the ground. Then focus your power into it and think about what you're looking for, in this case adrian….and not that way marinette."**

So using what tikki showed her in practice she began to funnel her energy into the weapon. Taking a breath trying to steady herself as she brought an image of adrian in her mind. At first nothing happened however slowly the yo-yo began to move on its own. It began to spin round in circles at first doing a little dance. However this was supposed to happen as it was looking for adrian and the spinning was it trying to find him. Then after about a minute of spinning the circles began to turn into a oval before turning into a straight line. Ladybug smiled at the slight before her as that was supposed to mean that it found adrian. Or at least found out which direction he was in.

" **After the it finds adrian it will start swinging like a pendulum. When it starts to do that look in the direction that it's swinging farthest. The direction furthest away from the center is the direction that adrian is in."**

Ladybug then watched the pendulum swing trying to gauge which end was higher in arc then the other. It did not take but a few swingers to figure out the difference as she noted it was swinging more towards eastern part of paris (I don't know I made that up I don't live in paris and the map on the wiki is all wonky.). Seeing the path that sheeded to take she wheeled up the yo-yo leaving it tied incase she needed it again before pulling out her second yo-yo.

Running towards the ledge before jumping and swinging her yo-yo out like a grapnel perpeling herself forwards at great speed in the direction of adrian. "Please adrian be alright." she whispered praying that he would be fine to she found him. After all people still hated him and she did now want to think about what would happen if someone else found him first.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

Agrest manor

"Home" the black cat said horcly as he walked the halls of the agrest manor in it fallen runid state. He was not cat noir now as he walk in his old home memories of times long gone returning to him, and almost all of those memories wear bad. As he walked up the stairs to the second floor or what was left of it. Much of the building had fallen apart, the entire third floor was gone having been caught in the explosion that did most of the damage. And parts of the right wing and the back of the building wear destroyed as well. Thankfully what was left after the fire was put out survived.

However despite that it was still in shambles as there were many holes in the roof letting light in the building. Looking around the old white and silver walls and furnishings wear now covered in gray and black. The old portrait was also gone, ether lost, stolen or destroyed he did not know all he knew was that he would never miss it.

He continued his track through the halls of the second floor watching his step as there were several spots wear the floor was weakening. But he ignored them as she made his was through to try and find some cloths. Considering all he was wearing wear pajamas under his suit he needed something. And he was not about to go looking threw trash and risk getting could hopefully find something here. After all it was worth a try as he had come back here several times for this and that over the years.

The reason for his return here off all places first however was due to the fact his father did a lot of his design work at home. So there was a room full of clothes that he used as both inspiration and as prototypes. So when looking for clothes that no one cares about anymore this is the best place to try first if you don't want to be seen.

It was also a bit of a surprise when he found that most of the stuff that was not destroyed had not been looted. But it made scenes a lot of the homeless locals he eavesdropped on said the place was cursed. Even the normal people and criminal groups usually avoided this place as people wear afraid they would be turned into an akuma. So it made a great place to hide most of the time. The only reason that he usually avoided this place unless the weather was bad though was to not risk having people search the place looking for him.

His walk to his father's old studio was stopped when he noticed a mirror on the wall and saw his reflection in it. He stepped closer to the mirrored surface looking himself over flexing and turning to see himself from all sides. It had been a few years since he last wore the suit so his memory was a little foggy.

After giving himself the once oncer he let out a horse laugh at his appearance 'did I realy realy run around the city like this?'. It was hilarious honestly was he so desperate for attention that he would dress so ludicrously. 'Maybe I should consider…' he began to think but his train of thought was cut short when he felt his staff vibrate on his back drawing his attention to it.

Pulling out the staff from behind him and opening the phone like device in it he saw it was giving away his position to lady bug. Gritting his teeth cursing his luck as he felt plagg almost smuggly saying "servers you right". But he ignored this as he said "cl-aws in" and in a bright green flash he turned back into adrian.

"Whoo..!" plagg cried out as he flew from the ring before looking about confused as to what had happened to him. He then turned around to look back at adrian and he was not happy with him. "You have a lot of nerve kid after how much trouble I went through to get you some help" the cat complained. But adrian just ignored it as he shuffled past the floating cat towards his destination. "Hay! Wear do you think your going adrian I'm talking to you" the spirit demanding anwer. But adrian nether could answer nore cared to after all a spirit like him would never understand human problems like his. How could he the only people who knew he existed wear people who had miraculous themselves.

As he forged ahead with his annoying friend beside him he had to force himself to keep going as he feet began to drag behind him. The previous strength he felt before as cat noir was gone and all he felt was weakness. And he would not be surprised if he collapsed if he did not sit down soon. Then there was the cold the moment the transformation dropped he felt the stinging cold hit his bones sapping his energy rapidly.

By this point it was not a case of him needing clothes to hide, rather he now needed cloths just to keep from freezing to death. His body was shaking terribly and he now noticed his breath in the air as if to show him how cold things wear. And as he had no shoes or socks his feet burned from the cold on the ground.

Thankfully the room he was looking for was just up ahead of him, it was the last room on the second floor and it was only a rooms length away now and he had to do was shuffle over to it. Moving over to the wall before collapsing agents it. He could hear plaggs worried of concern but they wear like radio static to him now as all his focus went to reaching the door ahead of him.

Taking each step ahead was a mountain as he felt more and more of the energy granted by the ring fade from him. The cold of the air numbed his skin and dulled the pain but also continued to steal his already dwindling strength. Instead of the walk he had achieved before he was forced to take only a single step, then steading himself against the wall before taking another one.

After about five minutes of this he finally made it to the end of the hall and his body was spent. He felt ready to collapse as his body felt oppressed by weight he did not have as his legs threatened to fail him. But he persevered as he put his hand upon the door twisting it open before he came crashing to earth.

The moment the door fell open his legs gave out and he stumbled into the room before falling to the ground. His face hurt and the world was dark to adrian now, his head now ached from falling face first onto the ground. Using what strength he could muster he pushed off from the ground rolling onto his back.

Opening his eyes his vision swimmed a bit weather it was from the impact or his tired state it was hard to tell. Collecting his scenes as his vision returned to him he could make out his surroundings. Looking around the room it was just as he remembered it, well almost. The room or at least the front part of the room was filled with un worn outfits that his father was designing. Now a number of these outfits wear somewhat doggy on quality due to the fact that they are all prototypes and they don't need to hold up. Now that was not to say they wear cheap in quality his father never made anything poor of quality. They wear simply meant to be on manikins so he could find flaws or make changes.

As he laid there he noted that a number of rak wear empty no doubt taken by people who looted the pace. Though there were still many left on the shelves so there was little to worry about assuming he could get back on his feet. The only real problem was that many of the clothes wear damaged by weather and age but he knew he could salvage some things he had done so before.

"Adrian are you allight?" he heard plagg ask above him his voice was just dripping with concern. But once again adrian was unable to answer even if he wanted to however to appease the spirit he gave a slight nod of agreement. Plagg let out a pleased sigh clearly revealed that nothing hurt to badly, though that could be chalked up to the numbing cold.

"Well that's good I was worried for a second." he said in his usual laid back manor taking a breath. Then his eyes flashed with anger before speaking in a wicked tongue "NOW THAT I KNOW YOUR OK I CAN BEAT YOU MYSELF!" plagg shouted. It was clear to adrian that the cat was very upset given his yelling but his eyes wear fierce and to be honest he could not remember a time he looked this mad. Upset certainly as he was usually agitated all the time by mundane things or being asked to help save the city if it interfered with whatever he was doing. But full on mad never and even if plagg did get mad it was not to the point of casting threats. He knew plagg did not mean anything by them but was simply worried. Still it did make him wonder sometimes if he actually meant it or not.

Plagg unfortunately for his head did not look ready to quite anytime soon unfortunately for him as the spirit took another breath ready to spout more of his rage out. "AND ANOTHER THING WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE THERE PLACE WHERE PEOPLE WEAR ACTUALLY TRYING TO HELP YOU, YOU FOO…."

Plagg however was cut off when the pair heard a loud crashing sound followed by the high pitched shattering of glass. The sudden interruption caused both occupants to look in the direction of the sound bewildered. It was an odd set of sounds but the combination of breaking glass of possibly objects made adrian wonder if part of the ceiling gave way. While this would not be to surprising the timing what a bit odd.

A second set of crashes however disproved this as a set of racks fell over with a person behind them. Both plagg and adrien wear stunned by this turn of events as what looked like a disheveled man collapsed onto a clothing rack. However with in seconds plagg instinctively hid nearby wear adrian was not sure but no doubt close enough to call upon, well if he could get his throat to work long enough to speak again.

As the man got up one thing became quickly apparent and that was the man was very unstable on his feet having trouble standing as he swayed to and fro. Weather that was from what ever he hit before or from him falling into the wrac he was not sure. However once the man was on his feet his gaze unfocused as it was almost immediately went to hin direction.

The man was older easily in his mid thirties, wearing mismatched clothing with brown hair and streaks of black in it in an unusual pattern that looked like grease. He looked worn and dirty like adrian had only a few weeks before when he was on the streets.

"Well now what do we have hear?" the man asked out loud though whether or not he was actually expecting an answer was up for debate. But he ether was too far gone by the looks of himself to notice or even care as he just moved forward continuing his banter "looks like this one collapsed before he could raid the ya can't do that this hear is my castle. And no one takes anything from me." the man exclaimed giving adrian a sideways smile wicked and wide like wings.

'Castle' adrian had momentarily wondered beginning to think the man was delusional. While true his house was larger than most people will likely ever see unless they go out of there way to find one, it was far from a castle, a hill fort maybe but not a castle.

The nameless man's smile only grew wider and wider as he drew closer casing adrian to grow nervous as the man started to appear psychotic. "What's the matter cat got your tongue?" he asked. This question made adrian half to hold his tongue so to speak 'well the man's not entirely wrong that's for sure'.

The man was practically on top on him now and now he could make out a foul odor on the man along with bloodshot eyes and a red face. The man the roughly picked him up by the color making him gasp from the jostling. "What's the matter walk out of bed boy?" the man asked jokingly but adrian would rather leave wanting to get away from the disgusting man. Adrian was not one to judge but this man was an exception as just looking at him he could tell that this man was not even trying to care for himself. He had met several homeless people before and while they were far from clean given where they lived, but they always took care of themselves as best they could and wear vary respectable. This man however was just vile in both attitude and cleanliness

It was then that adrian noticed whatever gear works wear left in the man's head started to turn as if he just noticed something for the first time. "Wh-what a minute?" the man began confusing him greatly making him wonder what he was going on about, however he did not have long to wait however as "its you!" the man shouted before picking him up with great strength greatly surprising adrian. Then before he could even react he was slammed back first into the wall.

"Your that annoying boy who helped ruin everything!" the man shouted angrily before smaling his fist into his gut. Adrian gasped as the wind was knocked out of him followed by an explosion of pain. The only good news was the cold air kept him from feeling all the pain allowing him to keep his scenes

"Pl-lagg cl-" adrian began to say but before he could finish the man grabbed him by the throat cutting of his voice. "Not this time." the man sneered evilly "I'm not going to let you use that witch craft of your fathers on me." giving his neck a squeeze making his neck hurt. "With you I can." however it was the man's turn to get cut off.

A loud high pitched "HAY YOU!" came from behind him caseing him to turn. When the man did turn he was met by a black ball of fur slamming him in the side of the head knocking him off his feet. This stunt from plagg also had the bonus effect of casing him to release adrian while painful he was grateful. Plagg floated above adrian looking down at him smugly at his own actions and arian could not help but smile despite plagg breaking a cardinal rule. Though given the circumstances it could be overlooked.

However the man quickly recovered bolting upright faster then what ether plagg or adrian thought possible. And before plagg could react the man backhanded him across the room and through a wall that was deteriorating.

"PLAGG!" adrian wanted to shout but was unable as a second later the man picked him up again this time sole by his throat choking him. As adrian gasped for breath he mad out the enraged look of the man before him. "Well looks like you real are a witch." the man commented for no reason still looking at him with the evil grin on his face telling adrian the man had an idea that he would not enjoy.

"So tell me witch boy what do you think I should do?" he asked clearly not expecting an answer as adrian was trying to breath. "Should I kill you and send a package to your father before I kill him?" he asked in vile tone. "Or perhaps" he said slowly and deliberately "I should send your body off as I am sure people pay good money for you". Adrian was horrified by the man before was clearly off his rocker as he made these remarks. He was actually joking and making fun of the idea of killing him.

Adrian began to vaguely wonder how he was going to get out of this without using the ring as the sick man glared at him. And plagg was most likely out of commission from the strike so he would be unable to help for some time.

"You ruined everything!" the man cried out "my wife left me! My boss fired me! Those people in the courts took everything!" the man bellowed hatefully. Adrian became fearful at this as he felt truly vulnerable right now as not only did he have no strength to resist plagg was also down. He was defenseless and at this mans mercy, not that he had any though. "And the ones to blame." the man continued rage in his eyes like fire in an inferno "the ones who cased this is that man in that stupid purple suit, and his demon spawn son!" the man shouted as loud as seemingly humanly possible cased adrians head to hurt.

Adrian then took notice of the man putting a hand in his pocket what the man was looking for he did not know. However then man's face lit up shortly there after seemingly finding what he was looking for. The man retracted his hand to reveal a a hands length piece of lacquered wood which he held in a odd grip. Adrian was taken off guard by this unsure of the objects purpose however when this man put his thumb on it and rotated out a long piece of metal out of what now was known as a handle adrians blood went cold.

In the man's hand was a large knife easily four to six inches in length, and while adrian was unsure how legal it was at this moment however it mattered little as getting struck by it in his current position would surely mean his end.

Adrian began to struggle as best he could to get away from the man who had revealed his intentions for him. But the man just laughed at his effort as not matter how hard he tried he just could not muster the strength to raise his arms anymore much les break free. "Struggle all you want it will all end the same way." he taunted in presumptive victory, "and with you death I will be regarded as a hero for bringing an end to you witch boy."

The mans face twisted unnaturally in to an awful grin as he brought the knife up above his head. And adrian could do nothing but watch as the man did so unable to move enough to even avoid the blow that would sure end him. And with the hand around his throat constricting his still sorry and recovering throat he was unable to say the phrase that might save his life. Closing his eyes for what he thought was the last time he momentarily wondered if this was his punishment for all the things his father had done. 'A fitting end for someone like me' he thought ready to get it over with.

It was then that he became away of the sound breaking wood and the man above him giving out a cry of pain. At this adrian hesitantly looked up creaking open an eye to see what was happening. Then instantly the light from that eye went out as an explosion of pain erupted in his skull before finally blacking out.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

marinette/ oops sorry I mean ladybug was not happy with her progress. While the dowsing was working (kinda) it was not working well. The main problem was the fact it was the first time she had used this power so its effects wear a bit doggy. This caused her to have to re check several times just to make sure she was going in the right direction. As the dows sent her off in the wrong direction twice so far already.

Thankfully she seemed to be dialing in of adrian's location as she began to notice which direction she was going. After searching using this technique for about the last half hour she start to have a hunch as to adrians location but decided to check once more just to be sure.

So on a rooftop of an apartment complex that was currently empty hiding the the remains of the places garden she pulled out her dows. Letting the yo-yo hang from her book putting some energy into it, thinking about her friend before feeling the now familiar feeling of the yo-yo swinging.

As she tried to focus on the the feeling to keep the dowsing going she also was alert and on the lookout for anyone coming. While she was a superhero so having a civilian see her and want her autograph was nothing new. But she was more concerned about an ambush, after dealing with akuma and the occasional criminal group her biggest fear was was being ambushed. And unfortunately she began to react poorly when surprised or taken off guard casing people around her to worry. But she figured that's what she got for being a superhero. After hero's will never be without their enemies.

After a few minutes being patient and watching the dowsing he suspicions wear all but confirmed of adrians location. Standing up from her crouched position she visually Followed the direction the line pointed towards. Looking over several building she could see the one that always brought her bad memories. "Agrest manor." she said out loud walking towards th edge of the rooftop. "So. he's gone back home" she finished before wiping out her yo-yo before taking off.

As she swung herself over the the few blocks to the area around agrest manor she began to think about what she would do with adrian. While sure she would bring him back home as she kinda had too as there was no place else she trusted him on his own at the moment. But in the end what were they going to do? Wear they going to continue to watch him like a prisoner to make sure he did not run away again? Would he willingly stay with them and try carve out a life for himself. And if that was the case what kind of life would he lead?

He basically had no choices, no good ones. Ether live in hiding with her family or live in hiding somewhere else. So in all honesty she felt like the villain as she was basically giving him a double sided choice. So in reality what choice did he have assuming he was being sensible which clearly right now he was not. But for now she really only needed to make sure he was ok. She and her parents could focus on his mind once they made sure his body was not going to give out on him a second time. Once adrian was safe and well then she could focus on helping heal his mind and heart, until then she just needed to take it one step at a time.

Swinging herself lower so that she would touch the ground on street level near the home/ or former agrest home. The street she was on was empty and quite unusual for a city as large as paris. It was a sad sight to see in a normally bustling city. After the mess that was hawk moths arrest and the subsequent fallout of that day within six months everyone who lived inside of a few blocks of this house left without a thought for fear of being turned into an akuma.

This left over a hundred homes and businesses empty a first for the city since the war over seventy years ago. And ever since that time noone has ever tried to move in or star business in the area. Even most criminal groups avoid the area like the plaug out of fear for what might happen to them. The only people who you wear libal to find in this neighborhood now wear people like herself who know there was no real danger, people who wear reckless and did not care or think about safety, or people who had lost faith in the world and nothing to lose.

As she walked closer to the house the quietness of the area begain to get to her. no matter how many times she came her on patrol just to make sure no one was trying to start trouble, but the way this area seemed to suck away all of the sounds of the city still hunted her. If you wear to listen and focus you would still hear the city life. But hear and now it sounded like a muffled vacuum amongst the abandoned streets.

That was another problem as this area had not been used that was lost revenue towards the city, and while the mayor tried to reassure people it did little to appease them. Unfortunately the city had all but given up on trying to use the area for anything anymore as no business wanted to build near the area. And the only businesses that would consider it would never be allowed in by the mayor for being corrupted. Besides even if someone did make a factory or something people were too scared to work anywhere near it.

Walking in front of the wall the divided the outside from the home. Going along the sidewalk along the wall she noticed several piles of rubble and holes in the wall. Her mind momentarily remembering the blinding light, followed by the eruption of power and roar of sound that came after. When she came to after that she remembered how both she cat noir and gabrielle wear on what was left of the third floor of the home. Even to this day she still had no idea what had happened or what had caused the explosion. And even when she asked tikki the kwami also had no idea not only being blinded but also being knocked out along with her holder.

She was brought from her thoughts when she heard a noise and felt something hard under foot. Looking down she noticed she had walked on to one of the rubble piles. Shaking her head at her carelessness she was about to simple enter through the hole in the wall when she noticed something on the ground.

Crouching down to get a better look at what it was she noticed it was a wet print of someone's foot on a big piece of the fallen wall. like someone stepping into water before walking on the ground. The print was faded to the point it was impossible to tell if it was a shoe or bare foot print. But it was a start, as water evaporate relatively fast depending on the surface it's on which ment at most whoever made it had to have been there with in the last half hour at most. And they wear going into the home meaning it had to be adrian.

Immediately her mood lifted as she proceeded inside the grounds when a little trail of white in her vision stopped her. Looking to her left she at first saw nothing and was about to brush it off as her imagination when another appears in front of her face. Followed by another, and another and another, until large amounts of white came down from the heavens. Looking up shocked by this her pleasure from finding adrian depleting as the snow began to fall.

"Oh no. it's snowing early the storm wasn't supposed to be here till later tonight." she commented before taking off in a dead sprint towards the home. "I need to hurry" ladybug said in panic as she ran towards the unhinged double doors of the home. "he won't last long in this weather." she said almost reminding herself.

Entering the parlor area she could see the poor conditions the once nice home was now in ruins. It was heartbreaking to see a once wonderful home reduced to this state, but she needed to focus on finding adrian. Maybe she could return this home back to the way it was later with miraculous despite the time limit but for now she needed to find the boy and quickly.

She was about to do a sweep of the first floor when suddenly "CRASH!" the sound immediately getting her attention. While it was faint it was still there and it was coming from the second floor.

Running up the stairs two at a time to find the source of the noise she began to wonder exactly which was it was coming from when another sound came to her ears. It was hard to tell exactly what the sound was but something crashed into something else was what she was sure of. And she also knew which way to.

Turning left once she reached the top going down the main corridor she vaguely made out the sounds of human speech. While she could not make out the words themselves she knew there intention and they wear violent. Going through the corridors of the halls at lightning pace wishing she could use one of her new trick for go faster, but couldn't because of the lack of room. she then began to make out the words spoken

"Struggle all you want it will all end the same way." ladybug heard a gruff man's voice say with clear murderous intent that made her spine crawl. It was at that moment that she heard world that would giver her nightmares for years. "and with you death I will be regarded as a hero for bringing an end to you witch boy." the unknown male said.

Ladybug by this point had reached a dead end and was almost at the door at the end of the hall. The whole way she prayed upon prare that she would make it in time to stop what she was afraid was about to happen. Reaching for her yo-yo at her side and wriping free the other one from the book uncaring as the book fell to the ground no doubt with damage done.

Once she faced the slightly open door she immediately kicked it open the rest of the way only to see to her horror a man with a knife standing above a defenceless adrian. Springing into action she sent one of her yo-yo's flying at sonic speeds into the asalints head stunning the man momentarily casing him to cry out. However this did little good as the man still slashed downwards onto adrian a half second later before she could even send a second shot.

After this slash ladybug had had it and immediately sent one out as the other came back. The first struck the man square in the gut making him gasp and casing him to drop the knife and adrian at once. The second shot hit him in the head again this time right in his face sending him flying into a rack of clothes. Realing both back in as she watched the man for a moment before seeing him go still in movement save for his breathing.

Letting out a breath she had been holding to steady herself after her violent burst of rage. She was not one to use excessive force or use her force recklessly or without reason. But this man had go to far he was openly ready to kill someone so in her mind he got of light. She even felt a confirmation from tikki telling her she did the right thing. Normally she would tell her to use her powers better but she knew they wear both in agreement that this man had it coming regardless of his reasons.

She continued to stare at her down opposition when she heard a grow from adrian. Immediately her attention went back to the blond rushing over to him as her mind momentarily blocked him out from the threat she had neutralized. Rushing over to his side she began to nudge his shoulders to try and wake him. She brought a hand to her hin trying to decide if it was safe to speak as he may recognise her voice, as despite her control in magic hiding her voice she nervous about her identity.

She then felt something wet on her chin casing her to instinctively wip whatever it was off before looking down to see what it was. But when she did she felt like her heart would stop. On her gloved hand was a bright fluid streak of red. Eyes wide she looked down at the floor only to see a small pool of blood under adrians head.

Ladybug immediately flipped adrian over but could not hold in a gaspe as she covered her mouth with both hands in shock. Going from his forehead all the way down to his chin was a deep slash wound. The wound bled fiercely as it triled down adrians face staining it red.

Ladybug, no marinette did not know what to do in all her years as a heroin she had never seen this type of damage. And even when this type of damage did appear it was always a medics job to fix it not hers. She was no medic she was a clothing maker and a part time baker while doubling as a superhero when she had time, or when she had to make time.

But this was something she was not prepared for in the slightest she had know idea what to do. Caring for someone who was sick with a cold or just had a scrape she could help with. Treating a severe wound like this was nothing she knew how to handle. She could feel tikki's frantic mummerings in the back of her mind but it sounded of a thousand birds unlegible in noise.

"Adrian. Adrian." marinette asked frantically attempting to shack the boy awake not sure what else she could do. Taking him to master fu would be a waste of time, and judging from what the man had said before attacking him this how adrian would be treated at a hospital. And her own miraculous power only work on magicly inflicted injuries when it did heal. And while tikki mentioned healing powers a while back while caring for adrian she had been too busy and did not make any time to learn. She felt stupid for not bothering to learn more about herself now, as if she had adrian might be all right already.

Her thoughts wear interrupted when she heard laughing of to her side. Looking left she saw the man who had attacked adrian now sitting up clutching his stomach. His face was red and starting to swell a bit weather from the impact of her yo-yo or the rack she honestly did not care. If this man spoke any more like what he did before she might be able to contain herself as she was already about to explode from rage upon seeing his smug look.

Immediately she stood up in readiness to meet him should he strike while the man began to talk "Well now ladybug sure is an honor to meet you. Glad you came when you did but it's already over but there is no need to thank me." the man said clearly a bit disoriented still. However a hot flash of anger corsed through the girl at this statement. "Thank you? For what?" she questioned wondering what dylusion the man was living. However the man just gave a dry laugh at her question before answering "what else for finding and killing the witch boy for you. Now the city is free of the son of hawk moth. Now all that's left is his old man." the man committed as he began to laugh hysterically seemingly going mad.

However marinette in the form of ladybug was far from amused by this statement from the man before her. "Like I would ever thank you." she said venomously making the man stop laughing before looking at her confused. "What's the matter?" he asked still clearly amused, "can't take the fact someone bet you to it? Can't take there being another hero into that got rid of this trash before you?" now clearly mocking her.

Marinette's body just shook with unrivaled rage however at how calus this man was at how he treated so poorly the gift of life that others had. "I would never thank you." she began to say which clearly made the man look at her. "The reason I would never thank you is because your just A MURDERER!" she finished in a shot surprising the man. Part of this surprise might have been due to ladybugs persona of always being kind and gentle. But she would later come to believe that it was because he genuinely thought he was doing the world a favor.

The man unfortunately just started laughing again uncontrollably which whittled on marinette's last straw she had been holding together. "Murderer?" the man the questioned between laughs, "I'll be regarded as a hero for slaying that monster". The man continued to laugh like a fool as he stood up and began to walk towards her and adrian.

Marinette on the other hand quickly rearmed herself in readiness for another attack. Looking down she could see the knife at her feet so there was no chance of him attack a second time unless he had another knife which she doubt, though she would be ready incase he did. "I already told you that boy is the kid who help hawk moth with him gone...well you get the idea. And just think of the rewards." the man said starting to ramble heavily. The man then began to eye the knife at her feet "all I gotta do is finish him OFF!"

After the man's last word he immediately dived for the blade but before he even got within arms length marinette as ladybug was already over him. She lepted forwards kneeing the man in the gut casing him to bow under her. She then grabbed him by the color before throwing him across the room with her increased strength. And to finish things off she slung her yo-yo at the man at full speed wrapping him up before he finally fell to the ground with a thud.

She stood there for a second longer making sure the man was down this time for good. Once again she felt a figurative thumbs up from tikki telling her she handled it right. But that did not mean if felt right as she did truly want to kill that man for what he said, but that would not make it right as much as she wanted to.

However hearing another faint pain grown from adrian brought her attention back to the blond who was become very pale and weak. She immediately dived to the boy "Adrian please hang on." she pleaded desperately as tears began to fall from her face picking up his hand placing it in hers. Squeezing his hand hoping to incite a reaction but nothing no reaction. Instead his arm which still hand some strength suddenly went limp and his head rold to one side as his chest stopped rising.

Marinette's heart fell "no, no, no, no, no, adrian!" she shouted beginning to sob uncontrollably bringing his hand to her face. Rubbing his hand against her tear stain face all she could feel was was how she failed, she was a failure of a superhero. She was not hero she couldn't even save one her own friends from a random thug even with al her powers. "I'm so sorry adrian." she muttered bring his right hand close to her ear.

Unknown to her however the momente her earrings touched adrians ring on his hand a bright light engulfed the room blinding ladybug/marinette making it impossible to see. Ladybug raised a hand to defend her eyes but it was futile as the light seeped through all even her hand. Forced to let go for fear of blindness to block with both hand the light began to fade once the ring fell away from her earing.

It took several minutes for marinette to recover as there wear spots still in her vision however when she looked down much to her surprise adrian was no longer injured. instead of a blood soak pale face it was just his normal complexion, the only difference was now he had an angry scar wear the injury was.

"Wh-what? What just happened?" she said breathlessly unable to make scenes of it. Even tikki in her head felt at a loss as to what was going on. Marinette then put a hand on her earring tracing it with her pointer finger. "D-did I do that?" ash asked this time, but just like last time tikki was at a loss and gave marinette a mental shrug unsure herself.

Marinette just let out an exhausted breath deciding to forget about it and ask master fu later when she had time. Right now she need to get adrian back to her house before anything else happened. And knowing her luck that was possible given her track record recently. And as for the man behind her she thought looking behind her. She would come back and deal with him later, assuming he did not get untied before she got back.

Stealing her nerves as she needed to be strong for adrian and get him to safety. The only question was how was she going to explain all this to her ma'ma, pa'pa and alya was the question? "Well that doesn't matter now I am sure I'll think of something." she commented pulling a yo-yo before calling out "lucky charm!". With an explosion of red and black spots her yo-yo transformed into a blanket. "Just what I wanted." she committed for wrapping it around adrian's cold exterior. While spots wear a little conspicuous. But with this even if someone saw her they would not see adrian. Plus it was cold out and this would keep him warm till she got him back home.

After wrapping him up sufficiently she picked him up bridal style and began to walk him out of the building. As she did she begin to wonder if him running away was going to be a recurring problem. This made her worry but in the end there was no way to know for sure till he came around. She supposed she would just have to have tikki keep an eye on him full time so he would not get a headstart on her like he had this time. In the end though there was nothing she could do till he was awake and they could talk about it, though she dreaded the idea of what his answer would be as to why he left. This only left one thought and that was how would she get home quickly without any yo-yo's.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

Else wear near by

Unknown to ladybug watching her from a distance in the shadows of a nearby building was a girl in black with a depressive frown on her face. Said girl had her eyes on ladybug but more specifically adrian as she contemplated mobilizing. A butterfly emblem appeared on her face as a familiar telepathic voice came to her mind. "Black swan report." the voice of gabriel demanded politely to her.

Black swan was quite for a moment as her mind tried to work on an answer "adrian is safe, ladybug had intervene and found him before me sir." she answered monotone but even then hints of sadness lingered in her voice.

It was gabriels turn to be quite this time as he seemed to take this into consideration. It was at this moment that black swan decided to ask a question, "sir with all respect should I intervene and retrieve your son?" she asked in the same monotone voice but this time with a hint of something else. There was a hint of longing in her voice as she spoke as though the idea of adrian being near spark a reaction.

"No." the ex Hawk moth answer planing snuffing out the spark in the sea of darkness in black swans heart. "Not just yet," gabriel said as he began to elaborate "continue to observe them from a distance and then report back to me so I can determine if interference is necessary. Until that stay out of sight". Gabriel's orders wear final but that did not mean she wanted to follow this one, but "as you wish." she said in response knowing gabriel was right and for the sake of everything she needed to obey. And so as she watched ladybug carry an unconscious adrian she watched in a state of readiness to make her move when the time was right. "Soon ladybug you will know how I feel." black swan declared despite her depressed mind she was eager for her revenge.

Ok hope everyone like the chapter that was by far in my opinion one of my best I dare say. ether way you did not get to this point to read me rambling you want to know about my future updates. well my next few chapters are pretty much decided for the most part give or take a detail or two. in the next chapter we will see some heart to heart between adrian and marinette. and in the chapter after that we will see more news from gabriel and chole and see more of there plains on fold. also yes nino will return before to long now. also on a side note a few of my readers where angry the way I handled nino not being told, well my answer is this a marinette specifically said that alya volunteered to tell him and b would you want to get on alya's bad side I wouldn't she stood up to an akumatized villin without powers I would not want to make her angry. ether way enough joking cat you guys later and take care.


	12. Chapter X fear & forgivness

**Ok everyone next chapter up sorry it took so long but what can you do. Also this chapter is several pages longer than I originally wanted it to, now why my chapters keep running long I'll never know but it means more for you the readers I suppose.**

 **Any way I want to apologize now if this chapter seems a bit awkward as I am not very good and drama writing that doesn't involve running around or battle. Word and emotion based drama like what's in this chapter is not my forte so sorry. Now if there is anyone out there who has some advice feel free to tell me how to fix the problem. Anyway that's enough out of me your not here for chit chat your here for the story so have at it.**

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

That day a day she knew she would not soon forget, and thankfully it was finally coming to an end. Or at least she hoped it was. After rescuing adrian and putting him in a ladybug blanket she had to get a bit creative bringing him home. So to avoid the streets she lapped over roof tops to reach home. And while it was hard and most certainly something she would never try again with a passenger (an unconscious one noless) it did work.

However half way through their journey home adrian had woken up. Now this was not a first as being ladybug she had saved hundreds of people easily and some of them did wake up in her arms. However adrian was a first as normal people usually started to fawn over her in praise or hug her or and the very least thank her. And she had saved people who did not like her two but adrian was again a first.

However adrian instead of doing any of this simple stared into his magic cloth cocoon. while it was not entirely unusual but she knew adrian was a big fan of her. So to see him not even look at her was quite shocking. The only time he seemed to look at her was when she spared a glance towards him when he just happened to be looking up. And the moment they made eye contact his face morphed into one of shame.

That was by far the most surprising part about there short ill be it powerful exchange. It was the shame in his eyes a look of shame that told her that he felt that he was unworthy, a lot that spoke to self loath. His look told her that he felt unworthy of being in her presence.

Knowing that adrian felt this way about not only her but about himself hurt most of all. Despite everything that had happened she could not believe that even now he thought so little of himself to the point where he did not care what happened to him. And what made it worse was that she could do nothing as she in this form was a superhero not a counselor. She had tried a few times to help people with their personal problems before as ladybug but it always back fired in the end as ladybug couldn't be in two places at once when people wanted to talk to her. Wear on the other hand she as marinette could.

So all she could do as she carried the boy in her arms was to try and console him saying "it's going to be ok adrian. I've got you everything is going to be alright". And while the words would mean almost nothing she could say no more in this form as the last thing she needed was another case of hero worshiping that got themselves in danger just to be saved.

Once she gotten back home and put adrian in her room as ladybug she called the bakery and told her mother what had happened as ladybug. She then told her that he was safe her there daughters, her room and that she would make sure there were no pursuers. After this she left before sabine inevitably came up to her room or and leaped over a few roofs before landing on the ground and de-transforming.

Shortly after she let her transformation drop her ma'ma called her and explained the situation. And while she already knew everything she was not about to let her ma'ma know that. However one piece of news that she did find useful was that her pa'pa had come home his delivery and fruitless search after his phone died. This was quite luck as tikki put it as that meant sabine could go back to her room and there would still be someone in the shop.

Over corser throughout the whole conversation she pretended to be surprised about ladybug finding adrian and bringing him back. She then told her ma'ma that she would be back to help care for him as soon as she could before hanging up and returned home. While normally marinette would consider it rude to hang up, she also knew that she had a habit of accidentally hanging up on people in stressful situations or when she was panicked. So in reality if she had not hung up it would have looked even stranger.

After getting home sabine having inspected adrian's freezing form after opening the blanket (and it subsequently disappearing in a swarm of ladybugs) suggested she give him a bath to help warm up. And it would also be a good to get him clean as he had gotten surprisingly dirty in the day's events. However neither she nor her mother mentioned the elephant in the room when regarding the scare on his eye.

So with a little help from her ma'ma, mostly for privacy reasons adrian got into a pair of blue swim shorts. Then marinette much to adrians surprise lifted him by herself and placed him in the tub. She stayed close to make sure he was nestled in and would not fall over until he got comfortable. then once she was sure he would not have his head fall underwater in his weakened state backed off to soak till he needed her.

Currently marinette saw herself sitting in the bathroom with swimsuit watching adrian as he sat soaked. With adrian in the tub simply enjoying the feel of warm water on his skin judging from the look on his face. This left little for marinette to do as she sat on the toilet looking at her phone. She deceded it would be a good idea to check on her phone and to also bring alya up to speed on what was happening. While she would have done this sooner she had to make sure that adrian was ok first.

So as she scrolled through messages to check it see if alya replayed to any of her hastily written messages. Even though she had mostly overcome her own shock of the day's events her messages wear still poorly written thanks to her being in a hurry.

Looking at her texed it appeared she did have a response from the plaid clad redhead (poetry) so raising her thumb on the cold surface of her screen she opened the messenger. One pressed the phone's screen then changed to the messenger icon for a few seconds as the app loaded. Then when the app finally load she was in for quite a surprise as she had at least a half dozen messages from alya scene she told her adrian was found.

" **Hay mari what do you mean you have adrian howd you manage that? Me and sabrina have been out for nearly an hour you jus happened to find him seriously wear did you find him?"**

Marinette looking over the message began to ponder her response to the girl and her texted when she noticed the time stamp. (3:28) at seeing this marinette faced began to pale a bit as looking at the clock it was almost five now being 4:57.

"Oops" was all marinette could say at seeing this realizing she had not checked her phone or responded to alya in over an hour. Meaning for over an hour alya had likely been on her toes wondering what was going on while she had been giving adrian a bath.

Realizing her mistake marinette started to thumb through the texts that alya had sent her and there wear quite a few. Some more polite than others.

" **3:35 Mari wear are you? How did you find adrian tex or call me back ASAP."**

" **3:44 Marinette it's been nearly thirty minutes now let me know what's going on."**

" **3:58 Come on mari tell me whats going on I don't like being left hanging."**

" **4:05 Marinette me and sabrina are back at my workplace and I need to get some things done still today so I'll be here for a while. But seriously would you mind telling me what the heck is going on."**

" **4:18 wear are you I am really growing impatent waiting. Sabrina had to go home to go home and now I am all alone waiting to know what happened….oh on a side note sabrina is cool about adrian, she was just a bit surprised about hearing him. And she promised not to say anything to anyone except maybe to her father.**

" **4:32 Ok now I can understand not answering right away but it's been almost an hour come on mari what keeping you. I know you're not as tech savvy as me but come on even you know how to use a phone."**

" **4:49 Marinette would you get back to me some time today or do I have to go over to your house to get the story from your mom as I know she will at least answer my question. HOW DID YOU FIND HIM"**

As she read the texted she began to wonder how she was going to explain this to alya without her blowing her fuse. After all what was she going to say "sorry I forgot to check my phone after ladybug saved adrian". Oh boy would she be mad if she worded it that way. She honestly would have loved to asked tikki her opinion on the subject, but that would be far off as tikki was still tired from prolonged healing and being ladybug for so long after. Plus she had to keep an eye on adrian and she was most certainly not going to let a civilian find out about her alter no matter how much she wanted to.

So seeing as how she would likely have to face the music no matter how she sliced it decided to simple tell the truth in the matter. She just had to hope alya had not completely lost her sanity with how temperamental she could be. Especially with nino gone.

" **Hay alya. Sorry for not getting back to you sooner but I, things happened. Also I didn't fand adrien ladybug saved him and brought him home. She aparently told my ma'ma said that lady saved him from being mugged or something."**

Looking over her message it was by no means perfect but then again nether was the day she had been having so she supposed it work. So as she hit the send button with her thumb and waited for a response she began to wonder about that man she tagged. Speaking of which she wondered if roger got her message and found him yet. She couldn't imagine it would take to long to find a man was literally all tied up. And for that matter who was that man and what was his reason for going after adrian. And while sure half the city was after adrian for one reason or another but this one was especially sadistic.

Her thoughts wear interrupted when she felt her phone vibrate in her hand casing her to look at the now blackened screen in her grip. Switching her phone on with the tap of a button before typing in the pass number. Once that was done it was a message from alya "thought so" marinette muttered upon seeing this before reading it.

" **OH boy that is a releaf. Sitting here for the past hour or more trying to get some work done was awful, but I'm glad he's alright. also how did ladybug find him anyway as to my knowledge the lady-phone hasn't been invented and nether has the ladybug signal above city hall. but seriously is there something wrong with your phone I sent like a dozen messages"**

Reading alya's message marinette had to suppress a laugh "oh alya." she committed shaking her head as her friends message. Alya might have been her best friend but some days she really did wonder about the girl.

" **No alya my phone is not broken, adrian was filthy when ladybug brought him back and he needed a bath and I have to watch him."**

While this answer would likely draw teasing from alya there was no point in trying to hid it as alya was bound to find out about her doing this from her talkative mother sooner or later. And as marinette predicted alya was all over her.

" **Oh, getting intimate already. Little soon for that isn't it. Shouldn't you be married first?"**

If marinette was not already used to alya immature behavior on matters like this she knew she would have turned red. But having practically grown up with her she had more than grown accustomed to alya's childish behavior.

" **Alya for starters he's wearing swimwear and second he was freezing when he got back and needed to get warmed up."**

She typed back towards the girl in response before pushing in thought a moment and adding.

" **And don't you dare make a joke about sharing body heat or anything close to it."**

Sending this warning to alya in short order after even though she knew it would likely do little good as this was alya she was referring to. As she waited for response she spared a glance over to adrian. His form was laid back against tub the water stopping around his neck and his eyes closed his heart rate slow. Marinette herself could not help but smile as it appeared that adrian having tired himself out from the day fell asleep in the warm water.

There was also a slight smile on his face as it appeared that he seemed to weather or not he would admit it enjoyed the warmth. Marinette was not given much longer to think about this as alya got back to her only a few moments later.

" **Parish the thought I just thought that you might want to wait before you become too close to him don't want to give him the wrong idea."**

Marinette upon reading this just let out a loud huff of irritation "dose that girl of no shame, or does she just get off in trying to embarrass me." she asked herself. However there was little point in getting upset as she had known the girl long enough that she would only get more gratification from it. However as she sat there looking at her phone she began to think about something that had been bugging her for a while now.

" **Hay alya can ask you something?"**

She typed in sending the message to the red head and almost immediately regretting it as she was wondering if it was a good idea. But it was too late to ponder as the text was already sent and all she could do was wait and see. Though she would not be made to wait very long for alya was as fast as ever.

" **Girl for starters that is a question. And second you should know by now that you can ask me pretty much anything. What's on your mind?**

Looking over the text messed she was grateful to have someone to lean on but at the same time wondered if asking this question was even a good idea. Though against her internal better judgment decided to ask anyway.

" **Do you think we should finally tell chloe about adrian. I mean she was kind of his on friend since they wear four years old up until adrian met us at school. After all it's been a few weeks she does have the right to know doesn't she.**

The question felt like it hung in the air as there was a long pause in between texted leaving marinette a long time to wonder if it was a good idea to ask alya. And as the minutes ticked by she was starting to regret her decision more and more. The blue bell then began to worry that she had made a mistake when.

" **Girl the last time I remember chole meeting adrian she almost struck him in the head with a brick and threatened to kill him more than once. Not only that you told me yourself that the staff that keep an eye on her say she a bit unstable mentally right now. So do you really want adrian around someone who could lose their mind and attack him.**

As marinette ready the response she flinched a little at the words attack, and as much as she wanted to trust chole...well alya was not wrong ether. While the mental health of chole was by no means bad least compared to some people she was far from healthy. chloe had shown some improvements in the past few weeks since she visited and started to keep in touch with her. The problem was that she seemed to be very unstable as a few days after her visit she received a thank you from choles butler for trying to help. But he also told her that apparently chloe had begun talking to herself a lot recently and no one was sure why.

But despite this at the same time she did really want to tell her as well as chole theoretically knew adrian better then she did. After all you real could not argue with knowing someone since being old enough to read on their own. Plus she in marinette's mind did deserve to know, didn't she? For how long they knew each other she would not be surprised if she knew everything. But if she was talking to herself how far gone was the poor girl.

" **Look I get that you feel guilty for keeping chole in the dark. And I also get that they have known each other as long as we have. And I know that you want to give chloe a second chance, but you got to consider adrian's safety.**

 **She attacked him. Now granted sure she might be better now but until you know she's not going to snap her twig again it would be better to hid it. Plus if she is as unstable as you say it's not a matter of trusting chole to keep a secret but rather can she trust herself to keep a cool head and not lose her mind.**

 **also how do you know the staff aren't monitory communications she has or something to keep an eye on her. How can you guarantee someone who is watching her does not have a beef with adrian?**

 **Anyway sorry for ranting I'm just saying till you know someone's not watching over her shoulder and she is safe enough to tell you should keep it to yourself for now. I'm not saying you can't but really she just might attack him again the moment she finds out. So be careful what you say**

 **Well that's enough of that my parents invited me over for dinner so I gotta go talk to ya later. Oh and marinette you have a good heart but not everyone is as forgiving as you so just be careful who you tell if you do. buy**

Marinette stared at the messages before her conflicted as to what she should do. On side side she thought that chole deserve another chance. But on the other side chole was not well, while she had not heard anymore from her in a few days what she had heard it was concerning. her face contorted into a deep frown unsure of herself should she tell her or keep it to herself.

Looking over to adrian's form she wondered what he would do in her situation, would he tell or would he keep it a secret. "What would you do?" she asked herself knowing adrian would not answer. That was when her phone buzzed again casing her to look back at her phone "what now alya." she said out loud wondering what could have happened in less than two minutes for her to contact back.

However opening her phone she did not see anything on the notification bar. This puzzled her greatly when she remembered something. Going to her app selection screen she went to the new ladyblog app. And app that alya was making a killing on she would point out with over six million downloads. However she went down a bit further to one called ladyblog prototype app.

Clicking on it she was sent to a page that had the usual red and spots but also had a login function. Typing in her user name (ladybug of course.) but in the password section begin typing in the names of all the miraculous in order (p.s readers I have no idea what the proper order is if anyone knows me tell me.) then she was brought to a new page completely different to the real ladyblog app. And there was a message for her from her police contact roger.

See about a year ago alya had her test out the ladyblog app first with the prototype app. But after the testing phase was done she saw some more use for it and with some help, a lot of help she was able to make the prototype app into a secret contact form only she and people she trusted could use. While it was a little silly it was a lot faster and safer then meeting her contacts in person. Plus if they had information but did not have time to find her it made it easy for her to receive it without anyone knowing.

So as she went to the secret inbox to open the email from roger she was met with a great surprise as she read over what he had found. Reading the document slowly to insure she got all the information, then read it again twice over just to make sure she did not miss anything. And when she was done she had a small smile on her face "well this makes me feel a bit better." she said to herself before hearing a grown off to her side.

Adrian began to move wriggling in his sleep, his muscles flexing as he made some noise of discomfort. Marinette then watched as the blond slowly woke up from his slumber. As adrians eyes opened they danced about as he scanned the room before fall upon marinette. His look held a large amount of confusion as stared back at her with a blank expression clearly still in a haze after just waking up.

However it did not take long for adrian to wake from this haze as his eyes went wide and he sight up with a start. Marinette was about to step in and tell him it was alright but he calmed down a few seconds later before laying back down. The blonde then let out a deep exasperated sigh of relief making the bluebell wonder if perhaps he had a nightmare

As she watched adrian starting to unwind again she decided now would be a good time to approach him hoping to make him feel better. Getting up from her seat putting her phone down on the counter. Then grabbing a cloth from the rake she walked over to the tub.

Adrian then became aware of a shadow above him causing him to look up to see marinette. She then got low to meet him at eye level. Smiling kindly "would you like me to help you?" she asked politely. This caed his face to grow a bit red at her question, but he said nothing as he simply sat up as best he could before sliding forwards a bit to give room. While he would have loved to ignore her as just looking at her brought shame to his heart. But he could not make himself say anything, so instead he simply stayed there waiting for her.

Marinette seeing him move decided this was his way of saying yes making wonder if his throat still hurt to much to speak. However instead of asking she took this as permission to proceed. so putting one leg in the tub behind him while the rest of her sat on the edge on the tub. His comfort was more important so she wanted to make sure there was plenty of room for him.

She then took the cloth only two reveal that it was a pair of clothes before handing one to adrian. Adrian took the cloth without looking at her which made her frowned but said nothing. Instead she simply set about to help adrian get cleaned up.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

About twenty minutes later saw marinette cleaning adrian's back while adrian tried to wash his arms. At first adrian froze when ever marinette touched a cloth to his skin, but after a while he grew used to it as he began to was the areas he could reach.

As the pair continued on there tasks marinette begin humming to herself it was no tune in particular but it was something she sometimes did when doing a job under stress, or when she was doing a job that required a particularly delicate hands. The figurative hands being to see if she could find out what was bothering adrian and see if he would open up. And maybe just maybe help him, and if nothing else make him see that he was not alone.

As she watched adrian who was unknowing of her thoughts simply continued to wash himself. All the while being extra careful around new found bruises that had formed on his skin from being thrown around by the man. Its was sad to see him getting injured again after all he had done nothing to deserve being treated that way. What made it worse for her was the fact that the only person who seemed to make him feel better with ladybug. And while he seemed to be ashamed of being seen by her alter he was also more relaxed then when ladybug was not around.

"Feeling better?" marinette asked trying to break the silence between them. However once again adrian was silent and this time didn't even answer. Instead he simply stared ahead ignoring her as he continued with his task. This deeply saddened marinette as seeing adrian like this. However she would not have it she would get to the bottom of this.

"Adrian." she said to him, but he ignored her, again she tried to get his attention "adrian." however again she was ignored by the boy before her. Marinette let out an irritated huff at his ignoring her as she would not have it. "Adrian. Adrian please look at me." he requested. But as before he continued to ignore her requests for eye contact. "Adrian look at me now." she demanded more strongly this time.

However seeing now obvious movement from him she leaned forwards and placing a hand under his chin and turned his to face her. When she looked at his face she was met with surprise as she saw clear tear tracks down his face. Eyes bloodshot red with his face in a sad and ashamed expression marrying his features. But even with his face staring back at hers his eyes still did not meet her own.

Marinette had to steel herself as she needed to stay strong for adrian and get to the bottom of this mess for his sake. "Adrian." she said keeping her voice level and calm knowing he would not be calm if she wasn't. "I want you to look at me and tell me what is wrong." ash asked continuing her sentence after a short pause.

But as she watched his face his eyes wear pointed straight down and to the side away from her. The boy was going out of his was not to look at her and it was beginning to fray her patience, but she needed to stay calm and and wait.

So coming closer to adrians face and raising his a bit more to meet her till they wear only inches apart she asked one more time. "Adrian I want you to look at me and tell me what is wrong?" she repeated. Though while his eyes did briefly drift towards hers they did not remain that way. But it was still a good sign as she was hopefully starting to get through if he is (if only briefly looking her in the eye). So seeing this she tried a different tact remembering something her mother would say when she was hiding something. "adrian I am not leaving and am not going to let it go or leave you alone until you tell me what is wrong." she declared to him.

This time however she did get his attention as he looked at her with shaky gaze filled with uncertainty and grief. Seeing this marinette cast an angelic smile simply saying "please" it was small but it was enough. He looked away slightly for a moment before looking back and gruffly saying "I ru-ind ah-a m-man-ns life." he croaked out slowly. While it was hard to tell what he said at first it was easy enough to figure out after a few seconds.

Marinette face immediately sunk in to one of sadness and pity a hearing this at the thought that adrian if indirectly caused someone's life to be abolished (most likely from a akuma). However after a moment marinette remembered the email she got and simply smiled confusing adrian greatly.

Marinette let go of his chin knowing he would not look away now, leaning back to a more comfortable position. As she did this she noted the perplexed look on his face clearly unsure of why marinette was happy. He was not going to have to wait long though

"That man you met ruined his own life you have nothing to do with it." she answered casing his eyes to grow wide with question. His mouth hung agape on slack hing as marinette for her efforts could not help but laugh slightly at his appearance. He then took in a breath of air to speak but marinette silenced him with a finger on his lips. This act stopped adrian in his tracks as relented closing his mouth and simply watched the girl.

Seeing that adrian sided agenset speaking was good as that mean she could speak without interruption, but also she did not want adrian straining his voice any more then necessary as it would only delay his recovery further.

However trying to look as reassuring possible as she spoke "I got a message from ladybug after she brought you here" she began to say surprising adrian as his eyes practically popped out of his head. But marinette pretended not to notice this as she continued. "Lady bug asked me to tell you that the man who attacked was not your fault being the way he is." she began to say again. "See after ladybug rescued you she had the man dropped off at the police station." she explained casing adrian to wince likely think the man's arrest was his fault too. "Don't give me that." marinette started to say seeing his reaction. "see after he was processed it turned out he had a record already over an inch think." she explained.

Now if adrian had not given her his attention before she most certainly had it now as his eyes looked into her and watched her with an intense look. It was clear that he wanted an explanation and marinette was more then happy to deliver. "You see before the man became an akuma he had already had a large number of misdemeanors on his record. Turns out he was reported on several occasions to abuse his wife, but because she wouldn't come forward nothing was also had a bit of a drinking habit and at his work he was a known trouble maker who was known for his bad behavior and would even pick fights with clients who challenged him over the phone." She further explained to adrian.

Marinette then requested he turn around to face ahead as she took a bottle of shampoo out to clean his hair. "BUT" said as she began to lather his hair, "the day he became an akuma was when he had a day off. He got called into work which had made him angry casing him to blame others for not being treated with the respect he thought he deserved. That's when he became the akuma **hypocrisy**." marinette went on to explain.

That is when the light bulb went up in his head as he remembered that name it was a hard one to forget to be honest. **Hypocrisy** was a real nasty akuma and while his powers wear nothing to write home about as it basically caused people to do the opposite of what they wanted to (I'e being hypocritical to their own wishes). It was his fight that became a problem as he was by far one of the most brutal hand to hand fighters they ever faced.

After he and ladybug got struck by his powers ladybug figured out they simply needed to think about doing the opposite of what they wanted to do, to get the result they wanted getting around his powers wear easy to overcome. But once they did he took them on hand to hand. And while they did maege to beat him eventual the man cased both of them some nasty injuries he as chat noir had a dislocated arm and a torn ligament in his foot. He also remembered ladybug saying she had broken something as well when the battle was finally over.

There was also the collateral as the damage to the city was by far the worst save for the final battle with...his father. as not only did the man case direct damage to the city he also had the people who he enchanted. With his power granted to him causing them to do the opposite that which they wanted. This caused the fire department to set fires, police to attack people, families lashing out at each other, and so on.

Thankfully no one got killed only injured though there wear a large number of close calls all over. but even with the miraculous power the collateral damages where felt for months. As people got very seriously hurt even some of the people in there class got hurt. Though he supposed that was a hidden blessing as it was easy to hid his own injuries.

Though even to this day he still regretted so many of his friends getting hurt, he regretted marinette getting hurt most of all as she was injured by far the worst out of there class. As the blue bell behind him's leg was broken in three places from what he heard was a shrapnel wound. And she crack five ribs, on top of having a concussion which put her out of school for almost a month.

Even though she was able to make a full recovery medically speaking he could not help but notice the three scars on her right thigh from wear she got hurt. He was just thankful ladybugs miraculous ladybug mended the most severe damage to her and she still had a leg. After all the damage could have been much worse, and given how marinette not only did not get struck with a blast from the akuma she was also seeking shelter. That just put it into proseptive at how bad that attack was. As event those looking to hide wear hurt.

Anyway after this mess though when they went to check on the akumatized person they both had thought he was the victim of a hypocritical act. But with both there miraculous beeping they had to limp away to lick their wounds before they changed back. And that was one of the only times he was glad to see ladybug leaving after a battle.

However his train of thought was interrupted as he became aware marinette running her hands through his hair. While this would normally be an embarrassment he was still to spent from the day to care too much. And without the rings power he had trouble moving round on his own so there was very little to he could do to oppose even if he wanted to. As he suspected that marinette would see to it that he got cleaned weather he wanted to or not.

But that was alright with him, as if even only for a minute it reminded him of his time with his mother. And to be honest despite his feelings on marinette safety it honestly felt good to have someone take care of him. As right now if only for this short time he no longer felt lonely a feeling he had grown accustomed to was now gone even if it was only for a few moment.

"Any way" marinette began again after what felt like a long pause which in reality was likely only a minute. "After he had been freed from his akumatization and released from mandatory holding he returned home." she explaine which made scenes as it became mandatory for akuma victims to be under observation for twentyfour hours just in case of a relapse. Relapse have happened one a few times but they did happen and it was more for the victims safety then anything. And any victim who lost wages wear compensated for their losses and all employers, school teachers, legal people and so on where required by law exempt the victim from there lost hours.

"However when he got home his house was apparently empty with his wife taking her unborn daughter with her." she further explained to adrian and while she could not see it adrians eyes went wide at this revelation. Before he had thought that he had ruined the man's life, but if this was true then that meant he was free of blame. But just to be sure he continued to listen to the blue bell.

"While he was in holding his wife packed all her things she could and left her ring as she left town." marinette pusing her explanation as she grabbed the spray nozzle to rines his hair down to rid it of the soap. She was careful not to get it into his eyes by placing a hand above his brow. Once she was sure his eyes wear safe she continued her story. "After this he went on a rampage and destroyed a good amount of his home to the point where the police had to pick him up again and put him in lock up. And when he was released the next morning and went to work only to be fired as that was the reason he was being called in. his boss finally hand enough of him harassing people and let him go." marinette finished telling him before going silent.

After explaining this marinette pulled away the sprayer waiting several seconds before pulling her hand away a few moments later. After this marinette then opened another bottle of conditioner before applying that to his hair as well. The sensation it applied to his head felt good as it made his head feel clean something he would never take for granted ever again.

Once she finished applying the conditioner and wiping her hands down she placed a hand underneath his chin again pulling him back to face her as she leaned in to meet him. "Adrian." she began before taking a deep breath "I know you feel responsible but don't, not everything is your fault. I am sure that if you knew what your father had done you would have done everything in your power to stop him." she said brimming with a level of pride of confidence that moved adrian.

Marinette then looked away for a moment closing her eyes for several silent seconds as she collected her thoughts and organized her words. She then opened her eyes and looked at him again. "That man was not your fault he ruined his own life. The akuma transformation was simply the final straw for his ex wife who wanted to protect her daughter. THAT" she highlighting the word that "is not your fault. That man was not fired because of you, but rather by his own actions." she stated in a strict no nonsense tone.

The pair wear quite for some time "Why did you leave adrian?" she asked suddenly concern filling her voice giving him a knowing gaze. "I know you did not simply leave from guilt, there is something more isn't there?" she said not really asking but more as if she was telling him she knew there was something wrong. The look in her eyes conveyed a strong aura of determination in her. This aura made her not only look but feel powerperful in his presences, as though nothing could shake her.

Adrian was silent his eyes danced around away from the girl he knew now that marinette would not let this go, she would continue to ask and question till she had an answer. But marinette could never understand how could she, she was in constant danger so long as he was. An even if she did he highly doubted she would see reason and actually listen. He had seen her more than once as chat noir running towards the danger so he knew she was fearless.

Looking back eyes once again focusing on marinette as she looked at him longing for answer.

Sighing feeling the slight stinging in the back of his throat as he does so then wetting his lips to speak. He knew that marinette was no fool and that she would figure out his reasons for leaving eventually, so figured he may as well tell her himself now "I-t's t-to d-ang-ur-as for me to b-be n-ear you." he croaked out as best he could, trying to make it sound legible as possible.

Marinette however upon hearing this was just dumb founded by adrians confession. ' he was concerned for my safety? Safety from what?' she wondered silently as was there someone his father upset so much someone put a hit on him... 'unlikely' if someone put a hit on him they probably would have found him by now. Plus with all her connections and her luck powers she probably would have noticed an assassin. However that still left the question of what he was trying to defend her from

"Adrian" she started to say humor in her voice "who do you think I need defending from...alya?" she asked trying to suppress a laugh. "Seriously why should we worry. With ladybug defending us what is there to be afraid of with ladybug protecting us?" she questions. Marinette was not lying and while she was keeping her secret just that. But it was the truth as so long as ladybug was around the city was safe from almost anything

Adrian however was far from convinced with the pleading look on his face "i-t's naught sa-fe." he struggled to say as his voice became sore and near inaudible. Adrian gripped his throat as it burned with pain from trying to speak.

"Easy adrien" marinette said placing a hand on his shoulder "your not fully recovered yet. you shouldn't try to force it you will only make it worse." the girl said concern filling the words she spoke. However adrian with all the desperation that filled him gave the girl a pleading look

"M-usss-t lea-v-e" he tried to say again as he struggled to get up before he was too weak to resist and fell asleep, but now that he was feeling a bit better he needed to go before something bad happened. While it was stupid to try and leave again especially now of all times but he was not about to let his friends get hurt. Not again. Adrian best as he could tried to push off to get out of the tub looking towards the door when a loud snap echoed throughout the room.

The blonde adrian was stunned blinking several times only to realise that he was no longer looking at the door but rather to his own legs. He began to question this of course when a stinging pain filled the left side of his face on his cheek. As the water stilled he became aware of his reflection in the water and a large red hand shaped mark in his skin. Raising a hand to his face touching the now stinging flesh on his face. However he reeled back just as fast pulling away his hand with a wince.

Confused by this he looked back to marinette and much to his shock she looked on the brink of tears. Her eye's wear water filled with tears unshed as she tried to maintain herself. her hand which was most likely what struck him still raised high from the offending slap.

Adrian himself however was surprised as this was very unlike marinette, in fact he could only remember one or two occasions wear marinette blew her top. And both times it was caused by chloe. But he honestly could not remember a time she physically harmed someone and most certainly not towards him. Infact she could barely stay in the same room with him without being on eggshells.

"You stupid fool" he heard the girl mutter much to his surprise as he just gaped at her as he nursed his cheek. But she was not done as repeated "You stupid fool!" much louder with a shout. Her tears no falling down her face as her pent up stress begin to reach its breaking point. "I was worried, we all wear. I searched all over paris for you when you first disappeared." she confessed with a sob. "And...when you disappeared again today I thought I had lost you forever." marinette further confessed face red with anguish and maybe embarrassment. However adrian was ignorant to this as his own face felt heated and red and not just from the slap as she confessed to him.

But marinette was uncaring of this or the fact that her own face burned at her confession. "We were all worried for you" she continued to say "ma'ma was worried, pa'pa was worried, alya was worried…..I was worried." there was a long pause in between each name she listed and an even longer one as she said her own, but she was only just holding herself together now. "So tell me" she began to say "what makes you think your protecting us by leaving? You can barely stand up on your own right now, in fact it's a miracle that you could even get as far as you did in your condition."

Marinette began wiping away her tears that had rained down her face, "we all care for you, we would never have brought you here if we didn't." she said with a loud sniff. "We would do anything to help you adrian, and don't you dare think otherwise." she said almost demand it of him.

Then much to his surprise she lepted forwards and gave him a strong embrace nearly casing him to fall back. However despite this new weight he managed to stay upright as he felt the warm tracks of tears on his chilled skin. Adrian wanted to tell her that he needed to leave before someone found out he was here, but the words wear caught in his throat as she saw the girl in front of him sobbing in his chest.

It was then that he realized how hard all this must have been for her. While all he had to do was make a run for it and stay in hiding. It was seeing someone like marinette who had to live with the consequences of his actions that put it into perspective. While he hid she and her family had to live with the pain of not knowing what happened to him. Before he had assumed that no one would care if he was gone after all most of the city hated him….

now however it was a different story clearly someone cared enough to spend the last few years trying to find him. And he had only aggravated that pain by leaving. It seemed no matter what he did all he ever seemed to do was case pain. What a fool he had been to so many people.

He was then taken back to reality when he felt the wight leave his chest look down to see marinette looking back at him with her puffy eyes. As he looked he could only imagine the amount of stress his running away had case the poor girl.

"Please" marinette suddenly said with a look of desperation, "please never do this again." she practically choked out as her hands shifted to his shoulders gripping them almost painfully tight. "Please adrian." now basically begging "please never do this again. You are not worthless. You are wanted, if not by the people of paris them by me, my parents, ayla, nino. They all care for you." The girl was now shaking tremendously as she voice her words trying to keep him from leaving again.

As she took a handoff adrian to brace herself on the side of the tub as to prevent herself from falled. Looking at the boy we unable to turn away as if afraid that he would disappear if she even closed her eye's. "Adrian we never would have taken you in if we did not care. You mean so much to so many if only you would see it." the blue bell said desperately.

"I don't know what I have to keep you from running away again. But I will do it." marinette told him practically pleading. " If you decide to leave so you can follow you own dreams or wants I won't stop you…." marinette said with a shutter. Hearing this adrien could tell these last words hurt her to say making her wonder if she had feelings for him.

But he would have no time to ponder this as the blue bell continued this grand speech. "However even if you do decide to leave….please don't do it for such selfish reasons as thinking you're trying to protect us. Because you will only hurt us." the girl said now squeezing so hard he started to lose feeling in his shoulder.

"So please" the marinett begin after a lengthy pause, her breathing ragged from crying "promise me that you won't do this again. Let us help you." she asked her tears finally subsiding before taking the hand that she had used as a brace to wipe away her tears. Taking a deep breath only to cough as she tried to steady her breathing. But eventually her heart rate begin to even out enough to compose herself enough to speak. "Once you all better and you have found a home...a home that's not a cardboard box somewhere." she added with a stiff laugh which even put a smile on adrians face.

However there smiles did not last long and soon faded as marinette tried to finish voicing her mind. "So please, stop thinking your a burden to us or that you need to leave for are safety. We are trying to help you because we care. And don't you ever think otherwise." she commented almost as if she was scolding him though he see the slight amusement with her in her eyes. This made him remember the days at school when life was simple and all he had to worry about was being on time to patrol.

This faded quickly however as her face became deathly serious "But please promise me you will never try this again." she demanded. Taking adrian by surprise unsure of what to say as his mouth opened to give some form of answer. Instead however he just gave an aline sound that could not be understood. This however was clearly not good enough as marinette looked fuming at this. "Promis!" she demanded far more strongly this time clearly vary serious about this as she lock eyes with a deadly gaze.

Adrian was just stunned by this as the girl continued to stare at him waiting for answer. He then thought over all the things that had happened to him since he came to this home. All of the things that marinette and her family had done to help him recover. The little things that the did for him to make him feel more comfortable. And all the times marinette had been there for him even when she could have just left him.

In the end adrian could do nothing but quietly nod to marinette who in return instead of going along with his answer asked "do you swear?". Adrian again was quite as he simply nodded in compliance with the girls wishes. After all even if he did not agree marinette was right leaving now was a fool's errand as he would not get very far.

Marinette stared back at him for several long seconds as if to see if he was lying by looking for any sight of deception. After a while though she blinked before nodding back in response. The girl then finally removed her hand from his shoulder releasing the blood flow with had cased his arm to go numb. Seeing the red hand prints upon his skin caused her to quickly apologise embarrassed but adrian did not mind as she did not mean to case him harm. "Just know." she started to say before looking somewhat redder in the face then before though from what was a mystery to the blond. "Please know that if you need anything just ask. That's all that I want you to do." she requested before backing off and positioning herself behind him.

The pair sat in silence for a long while after their exchange but the silence was not hastile just awkward as nether knew what the other should say. They simply stayed quite with only the noise of water to accompany them as marinette was finishing off her work and getting ready to pull the plug and dry adrian. After which she would make sure to get him up to her room as soon as possible so he would not catch cold from the lingering water upon his skin.

As marinette sat up to fetch the towels she would need for adrian she heard her name ring out from behind her. "Marinette." the name came out horsly making the girl spin round like a top. "Yes adrian." she answered looking at him intently only to see him not look back in kind as he looked down at the water. Then with outlook he said "c-can I ask you s-something?" he inquired with some difficulty. Marinette however just smiled remembering herself asking alya the same thing and decided to answer in kind. "First that is a question." she answered humorously casing adrian to shift uncomfortably as she started getting close kneeling beside him. "And second" she begin again "anything just name it and if I can I will answer it." she finished

Adrian was quite for a few second more before looking back to meet the girl in the eye. Then a short puas later asked "do y-ou have the se-quel to that book you lent m-me available" he asked almost timidly.

The pair wear quite again for a short while before a bright smile went across marinette's face "yes I think I have it laying around somewhere." she answered kindly. And in that moment a small but ever present smile crept along adrian's face. It was faint and even though he did not know it then it would mark the beginning of a change in him. For better, and for worse. And marinette's smile only widened at his question "I'm sure I have it laying around somewhere. I'll look for it later when your dry." She answered humorously. Standing up so she could get the towels. Marinette then helped the boy dry off and gave him a shirt before carrying him up to bed wear they sat and talked till dinner was ready

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

However unbenounced to adrian and marinette watching the dupn-chang house from a nearby structure was a single figure clothed in black. The this figure was wearing a long black dress that went to her knees. And while it was somewhat plain in design it had an intricate feather pattering and the bottom near the hem. There was also a pattern that looked like feathery wings on the sleeves. And on the young woman's head was a large hat with a black ribbon around the brim. Finally to finish off the look wear pair of black high heeled shoes with what looked like feathers on them, while in her hair was a black hair him that looked like a swan.

This woman was was the re-akumatized form of chole, black swan however using her powers she altered her appearance for the sake of preserving her cover. Upon the women's face was a familiar and wikked purple transparent moth emblem. As she watched the house she could feel the presence of her master in her mind allowing him to see what she saw.

As the black clad girl stood watching the home she began to wonder about what she should do about the situation."sir shall I engage them and bring adrian to a safer location?" she asked gabriel feeling a tiny spark of something in her empty heart as she asked the man.

The link that connected the pair was quiet for several seconds and while she had no idea what the man was thinking she could only guess that he was thinking. However after a short pause gabriel answered, "no not now, he is in good hands for the time being." the man reasoned.

This however cased a few of the remaining sparks in black swan to ignite in anger at his response. "But she is the one who caused all this, and is your enemy. We can trust adrian with are greatest enemy she will use him against us." black swan argued violently. Then she felt a stinging pain in the back of her mind making her clutch her head. "Know your place child" he warned her curtly clearly reminding her who was in charge. The girl whimpered slightly then responding with a "yes sir" before releasing the pain on chloe.

Gabriel was silent for a few more moments more to let chole recover. Then once he had her attention again he explained himself, "as much as I agree with your sentiment regarding my son he is safer hear for the time being." he responded to the girl surprising her. "You see at present you are my only free agent and as adrian is bound to be somewhat…"resistant" to area case he will require constant monitoring till bring him t are side. And without a proper place to store him till that time he is safer while not in are hands." gabriel explained to the undercover villain.

While chole may not have been entirely in the right mind while under the influence of the akuma she had to admit that he was right in some capacity. Until they found more akuma she needed to keep her self free to do gabrels bidding lest she not be able to do her job…. But still. Leaving adrian in the hands of the enemy did not sit well with her.

Gabriel though the link he had opened with black swan seemed to be able to sense this disagreement of opinions. "Listen marinette might be are enemy but her obsession with me son will keep him out of harm's way. She has gone very far out of her way to claim adiran for herself. Now that she has him she would dare lay a finger upon him." the man explained camly. "So while I will admit the man with the knife was a close It still on proves my point that he is in safe hands till we are ready for are end game." gabriel finished. His logic and reasoning behind his choices behind this decision wear sensible. However that did not mean that she enjoyed letting adrian stay with marinette.

"Do not worry you will have your chance at revenge soon enough." gabriel assured her confidently. "For now though we have more pressing matters to attend to. For starters how did your infiltration mission go?" the man asked now completely changing the subject.

Chloe wanted to protest again as she brushed some of the falling snow from her hat but said nothing as she answered. "Poorly." she quipped sounding slightly upset as she said so. "The security was to advanced I could not access the data. Unfortunately my powers are indicated for the task." the girl explained still seemingly displeased.

Gabriel hummed in thought considering this new development "this is most disappointing." was the man's eventual response. Making the frow on black swans face grow " am sorry I failed you." she said through the link in admittance to her unsuccessful robbery.

However gabriel did not see it this way as he answered "do not threat over it, you are a spy a messenger not a thief. I gave you powers that complemented these treats the ability to hide and gather information. I did not give you powers that would allow you infiltrate undetected" he confessed to her. However this did little to make her feel better even if that was the intention.

Standing there cold and poised ready to act black swan simply asked "what will you have me do?" she asked politely. But once again the words wear laced with misery and sorrow. Gabrial seemed to smerk at this however "what else." he answered "you are my messenger, my Huginn and Muninn. And just like odin's ravens you are my bird of prey who will tell me all of what happens in this realm while I sit here waiting and watching for the right time to make my move." gabriel answered almost poetically making chole somewhat uneasy the way he referred to her but said nothing of it.

"Now then" he began suddenly her previous failing seemingly forgotten now as he moved on to new things."Have you found a candidate for my second akuma?" gabriel asked quickly shifting gears somewhat eager to hear word for his newest recruit. Black swan took a breath as she felt the fan of of her in flame flicker and die off. While she wanted to get her revenge now it would have to wait as gabriel was right they needed to be patient. "Yes gabriel I have one candidate who I believe is everything you could ever want." she asked dutily then added "And even more." she finished confidently lamenting at her recent discovery of said candidate.

Gabriel simply hummed pleased by this answer, "is that so? More than even I could wish for?" she answer extremely intrigued by this answer. This only prompted black swan to answer again with a "yes sir" she reaffirmed. "He is tactful, strategic, extremely intelligent, loyal to no one as of yet, and best of all he holds resentment to a man for what happened to him. He is perfect for you goals." she said reassuring putting up a good sales pitch for this person.

She could practically feel a tiny wisp of a smile on gabriel's lips as her pitch seemed to work on him. "Good. that is just the kind of news I wanted to hear." he said in a voice of approval as he commended her. "Thank you sir." black swan answered humbly in reply.

"You will set out immediately towards this person and I want to know everything about the man you speak so highly of." he requested politely to black swan. Black swan was hesitant as this meant leaving adrian in her enemies hands. But she needed to remind herself that things would be fine for now.

So giving one last look to dupan chang residence, and for a moment she thought she saw a bit of blond hair in the one window. But in the end she turned her back on the home and begin to walk away. "Don't worry ladybug I know who you really are now. And when I get the chance I will make sure you know how I feel." this statement burned brightly within her heart despite the emptiness of it. And as she left she promised to make good on as her body began to change into that of a large black bird. As her form stopped change to reveal an elegant swan before taking flight and making her way away towards her new target.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

 **Oh boy was that a nail bitter at that last part wasn't it. Or maybe its just me...who knows. Either way I hope you all enjoy this chapter as it was surprisingly hard to put together. I am not very good with personal drama it was hard to write. But I think it turned out if not I am sorry as this is not an area i'm used to. Still I think it did ok.**

 **There was not a lot going on in this chapter I know save for drama but after a chapter like the last one there was going to be some. After all you can't have a character run away without there being some strained ties between them.**

 **Also on a side note in case you didn't catch sorry if you didn't. chole talking to herself is actually her communicating with gabriel but because only she can hear him people think she is talking to herself as thuse think she is mentally unstable. Plus she did attempted rage kill on adrian in my story so there is also that reason why marinette has been so hesitant to tell her. Finally as far as chloe is concerned marinette in a another chapter is going to ask adrian if he wants her to know. As while chloe has some rights it should ultimately be his choice if he wants to or not. And the reason why it did not happen in this chapter like I had originally planned was because it did not fit in the dialogue the way it was going. So it will be brought up later.**

 **Lastly the next chapter will have us meet the newest requite to gabriels army so look forwards to that should be my best chapter yet (hopefully.). So I hope you all look forwards to it next time.**

 **Any case that's all she wrote so cat ya later!**

 **P.S why is it I always seemed to make chapters longer then I want them to be? I just don't get it.**


	13. Chapter xi blitzkrieg

**OK miraculous fans it's the chapter you have been waiting for the true beginnings of gabriel's plain are starting to take phas as phase 1 has finally gone into full swing as his second akuma gets ready to join his ranks. Also this is by far one of the fastest chapters I've finished just over a week wow.**

 **Also to a guest reader who gave me possibly the longest review I have ever seen. That you for all the criticism it was very helpful in some areas if you had an account I would have even told you personally that much and how you helped. But alase I cannot but I can tell you this many of your plot points have already been considered but have not come up yet. So fear not savreal of the things you mentioned are important to the story yes, however they will be brought up later when they become more relevant.**

 **And also as far as marinette making decision for him and slapping him. First he was out cold for over a week and then when he did wake up he was acting vary iratonaly. So I probably would have tried knocking some sense in him as well. But again most of these point are going to get brought up more later. Though once more thank you for all your criticism as it was ever so helpful. And you remembered your manners as well which was very polite and I love polite people**

 **Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter as I make it because of are combined love of miraculous. So please set back, relax, take it easy and enjoy my newest chapter. Also apologies now if the dialogues a bit long winded I need more practice on sections like this. But without any more from me enjoy.**

 **P.s I can't believe I haven't been making ff jokes given how I started using roman numerals in my chapters now.**

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

 **Outside a across the street from french base naval hospital**

Its was snowing in the streets of paris filling the city with a beautiful white layer that practically glowed with color in the evening light of the setting sun. the sight was wondrous to be hold for many as children rushed out of there homes to play after school had ended. While the children played the adult went about clearing the mess made by the weather or doing other chores. Or playing in the snow themselves (A.N I know I would).

But to a few individuals the sight was far from marry and did not give the promise of a happy christmas in the month to come. As standing above a rooftop looking down at the adjacent building was the agent of hawk moth black swan.

She had been waiting most of the after noon for it to get dark out so she could make her move to recruit her new partner. And if what she suspected to be true her new commander as well. This was her mission to bring to gabrial if only in a figurative scenes his second akuma.

Speaking of akuma raising a hand that had been at her side opening it to reveal the sickly colored insect in her palm. She had received said incect the other day from gabriel so that could use it at a moments notice instead of waiting a month for the next security gap. After getting the ok to proceed with her mission she went home to fetch the akuma to bring in there newest member.

Said member was not in a place one would expect though as he was not in prison, jail, on a military base or even on the street like adrian was….."adrian" she though wishfully as the darkness in her heart lifted even if only just a little at his name reducing the pain in her heart that she felt every waking moment.

Black swan shook her head trying to clear her mind as she had a mission and she needed to focus. Ether way her mission involved bringing in a boy at the intensive care unit at the hospital next door. Now one might think it mad to bring in someone who was close to death's door, and they would be right normally. But with a little magic, like that of an akuma had a way of mending such problems.

The boys name was alexander Donnan and he was the son of a prominent admiral in the french navy. Now one might assume the he was injured in a combat or work related accident following his father footsteps. Well that was wear the story got more interesting interesting, and made the opportunity to bring him in all the sweeter. While gabriel was understandably reluctant to use an akuma on someone as bad off as him her reasoning was made all the more clear when she explained her self.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

 **A few hours earlier in the same location**

"While I can appreciate all the hard work and thought you have clearly put in to your research. But what makes you think this boy is in any position to offer us anything?" gabriel pointed out in his usual cold tactful voice that rang out in her head. Ever since she had told him of the boy he had been like this trying to find fault in her plain

"Positive" black swan answered undeterred by gabriel's response. Black swan then pulled out her phone with its new sleek black casing that shined so bright it gave of her reflection. Turning on the jet black device light up a screen that now showed a bio of the canicate that she had selected.

It showed a picture of the boy before he had his accident that caused his debilitations. The boy had light skin somewhat darker than adrians. He had sand colored hair that went past his shoulders and tied in the back. He had some fading freckles that wear becoming hard to see.

He was wearing a bright red shirt and had some sort of metal necklace around his neck that went below the borders out of frame. Finally there wear a small pair of glasses adorning the boy's face.

The boy was unfortunately for black swan unimpressive in this current photo but that was not what was important. What was important was the information held inside his file she made that made the boy vary impressive even to the most sceptical.

" 'alexander' known aliases 'alax, al, alexander the great, and sand storm.

Current age 18. 19 tomorrow

Current residence french naval hospital.

Current home address relevant

Family

Father ethen - current admiral of french naval forces

Mother brigette - dressed

Brother zackeria - serving in french army abroad."

"Yes yes that's all well and good" gabriel interrupted sounding somewhat impatent for a change upon listening to this information. "What I wish to know is what can he do that will benefit are plain." elaborating on his interruption though politely. While she knew he was a vary patient person as he had to be for waiting for years in prison before launching this plain. But she also knew that he hated when people did not get to the point in his mind in a timely manner.

Black swan despite the coldness in her heart she could not help but smirk at his statement given what all she had. "The point sir." she started politely to gabrial "is this boy would make a perfect candidate due to his….ability." she said deliberately pushing before the word ability and even gave more strength behind the word as well.

Gabriel was quite for a minute upon hearing this, but black swan was ever patient and knew she would answer in her own time she simply had to wait. Then out of the void of her mind "go on." she heard the man say to her. She then went back to her notes as she continued to read them off excepted this time only the highlights.

" he is an amiture gamer that had for a short time even competed with pro teams. He has a IQ of 180. He won a chess tournament when he was 5. He has been known on at least one occasion to slip into his father office and solve all of his logistical paperwork for budget when he was 7….apparently that was his way of trying to impress his father. He was known as the sandstorm on the rts forms as one time he beat six other players at the same time by tricking them into attacking each other. even though the six wear working together against him. And he was solving college level problems when he was ten. He even out smarted one of his father's tactics in battlefield tactics also at the age of 7. Before his accident he was even given a number of scholarship chances in a number of fields. But turned them down simply because he was not interested. This is partly do to the fact that glory and fame don't hold any importance to him" Black swan had to stop for breath after listing off so many feats being winded now from the rapid fire listing she did. but even with only these few feats she listed off she was sure he would be sold.

"Impressive. She heard the incarcerated man say in her mind "very impressive." he repeated clearly she had done well if he said impressive twice. However despite this she knew the but was coming it was just a matter of when. " I will admit that while his feats if true are something to behold. I must ask how is this boy different from other highly intelligent prodigy's that makes him the best choice. What terible act had been done to him that makes him a candidate for one of my hand picked akuma? After all the more troubled the individual the more powerful they can be made to be." the man questioned.

Being such a prominent businessman before he was arrested it was easy to see how his mind worked. Having worked with him so much recently she started understand his business style mentality and the logical reasoning behind his investment. For starters with his first akuma he just needed someone anyone and got lucky to have such a good one first time round. But now he only had five left, five more chances to get back at ladybug so it made since that he would be as choosy as possible with the last five he had. So it was reasonable to assume he was going to be sceptical of a new candidate no matter who it was.

But she was one step ahead of him having thought of all of this in advanced as she simply scrolled down the list a bit farther to the section she had set up for just this reason. "And that is why I have a story to tell you. One that might convince you of his willingness to work with you." she said speaking in a similar way to gabrial to try and sell her point. A tone she had been learned from him.

Gabriel was predictably quite as he thought over her claim, she knew he was that is what business men did after all.

Go on" gabriel said to her in her mind. "Very well." she replayed

About four years ago the boy and his father had a falling out. From what the reports tell me his father had gotten him a place a a military training academy that, and which would then lead into officers school." pusing her story scrolling down the page on her phone that was filled with notes before continuing. "Alexander refused to go however angering his father telling him he did not want to join the military. His father however apparently told he he had to join as it was there duty to have all male hairs inlist" black swan further explained to gabriel.

This time however gabriel gave a hum in interest from the story, and while he said nothing she could tell he had already taken interest in the story. So seeing as she was being left unopposed she scrolled a bit more before continuing the tale. "Apparently since before the time of even napoleon there family has been rooted in military service with ever son enlisting. So his father was trying to streamline this process, and while his other son had already enlisted, I'll be it in the army now navle. The man was focused on getting his other son to join."

"After this his mother got involved and threatened to divorce her husband and take her son with her if he tried to force the issue. The man then dropped it for a few weeks at least." this was wear the story got a bit tougher she had to hold in her in depressive mind. Lest she have it spill over and she break down into tears.

The story of what happened next reminded her of her own mothers passing. But to be honest she had it easy compared to this boy. She did need to continue unfortunately and gabriel while an understanding man was not immune to growing impatient with dowdaling.

So with heave heart and a deep breath she continued the tragic story. "A few weeks after this alexander was a a video game tournament with his team. And while in the waiting room his father showed up and dragged him away. This part is a bit sketchy but witnesses say that he was telling the boy he was tired of him wasting his time and it was time to join the military. Apparently he enlisted his son into the boarding school." she finished this next line a bit misty eyed with a lump in her throat at what was next.

gabriel seemed to notice this she could tell in her mind but seems uninterested in interrupting her. Perhaps it was because she was always depressed and always on the edge ready to fall over into despair and any moment. Or maybe it was because he could guess what was coming and brought back unpleasant memories of his own.

Regardless she was determined to finish the story without breaking into tears. So taken shaky breath finished her story. "After this he put him in a van with that was to take him to the school. Fortunately or unfortunately his mother found out and intercepted the van with her lawyer and the police. Once he was out of the van the detained the driver as it counted as a case of kidnapping.

"But while this was going on a man who had be court martialed and sent to prison for for indecency to a female officer and assault, planned an attack…." pusing slightly to take a deep breath as she tried to stop herself from weeping at this last bit. "The man somehow had heard about the van and his son. The problem was the police suspected that he mistook the admiral's son for his father because he only got the last name when he. The man had stolen a car loaded it with gasoline and and a detinator and drove it into the crowd wear the police had stopped the van."

"Two officers, the lawyer and….the...boy's mother wear all killed in the explosion while he was severely injured." she pushed again for several long seconds after this. The lump in her throat became hard to bare making problematic to speak. Gabriel had become unusually quiet aswell during this whole story as he usually had an opinion about everything. Granted he was usually always right but still it was erry to know there was someone there in her mind and not speaking back to her.

By this point it was becoming hard not to fall off the tightrope she had been balancing on in her heart. She felt the tell tail whisps telling her to give in and fall to despair. However she would resist as she had only a little bit more to tell before she was done.

Clearing her throat trying to dislodge the lump in it. "After the admiral thanks to the unusual circumstances and using his connections in the military was able to avoid losing his job and was able to get him into the base hospital. Though he never once visited his son after the accident, this has caused the rift in them to grow larger and now it is said that the boy hates his father and blames him for his mother's death, but is unable to do anything to remedy the situation. While on the other hand his father apparently refuses to visit because he blames himself for the accident and can not bring himself to visit." and that was that she had done it without breaking down she had told the. And all that was left was to wait for gabriel to give his answer….

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

 **Present time**

Her mind was draw away from the memory of her conversation with gabriel as she became aware of the darkness surrounding her form in the cold night air. Looking around her and the now darkened atmosphere in the sky and in the parking lot below. She must have been day dreaming for a while for it to get this late. But that did not matter as It was now perfect to perform her operation.

Giving her form a quick shake to dislodge all the snow that had clung to her again as she went over her plain in her head one more time. As she did this she began to think of security, the guards themselves wear easy enough to avoid, it was all the cameras and sensors that would be the tricky bit. But she pushed these thoughts aside as they would not accomplish her mission as she only had about five minute before the nurse entered and left her target. After which she would only have fifteen minutes to accomplish her goal. So time was not with her.

Using her powers she began her transformation turning into a beautiful swan, then she spread her wings wide and running forwards she leaped up into the sky. She did not have much time to idle so she had for the cameras. The only problem with turning into a swan is that in france at least swans are decidedly rare, forget black swans. So she was unable to get close enough to look for all the camra's before. And remaining in human form would only make things worse as this was a military hospital.

However as she watched with her pitch black eyes she saw '1...2, 3 oh 4.' four camra's but only one at the door and none at the tarence above. Seeing this as an opportunity she angled her graceful wings ever so gracefully to aim a landing on the terrace. As she flew she began to think of the irony, in that most people and children would give much to fly on their own if only for a while. But she was living this dream and all she felt was bitterness and sorrow.

Landing webbed feet first on the terrace sliding a bit due to ice that had formed but staying up right with little effort. Changing back to her human form, however instead of her street where's she was wearing her villeness ballet outfit. The sleek mask covering her face as her dress shimmered slightly in the night. And despite the nature of the dress she was not even a bit cold thanks to her magic granted by gabriel. But all this was beside the point as she was pressed with another problem now and that was the camera.

Looking over the edge the camera was pointed right at the door, and unlike some of the other camra's this one did not move. That ment she had to move the camera and risk a guard seeing her. Reaching out a hand to move the camera and even taking a few of her feather to make it look as though a bird did it. However just as she was about to touch the camera she stopped. On the door plain as day was a digital security lock.

She was royally upset with herself having forgetting a very important detail about security. Chole knew better then to not think of such security her father owned a luxury hotel for the rich security was everything. She even remembered the day he had most of their electronic locks installed so she should have known better.

Gritting her teeth hissing iritibly as she looked at the cursed lock in her way. 'Now what do I do?' she questioned as she just stared at the infernal mechanism that barred her entry to the inside of the hospital. She did not have time for this as she wanted to be in and out before the security came through again. There was also the problem of the camera as once she got past the door lock somehow the moment she fooled around with the camera a guard would come up to see what went wrong. That was when a smile appeared on the girls face as she had an idea about how to kill two birds with one stone.

Taking her free hand she grabbed the camera a twisted it off to the side away from the door. Then taking the feathers she had in hand and put them over the camera and dropped them over it. To someone who had any brains this ruse would not be so effective but that was the beauty of it the budget security never had any (A.N chole's opinion not mine. I respect my security). Shifting around to the side she slid down and landing on the ground away from the camera and on the side that the door opened on. Poised ready to enter the moment the security team checked on the camera.

Shortly there after black swan got the ok she took up a position outside the hospital simply biding her time. And sure enough about a minute later she heard fast fee moving up the stairs. Few seconds after this the door swung open and two men stormed out and immediately made there way towards the camera. And before ether men had a chance to turn around she snuck in through the door unopposed as it shut and locked behind her.

Black swan if not for the situation would have probably laughed at their incompetence. "Stupid guards not checking the area first before inspecting the call if they worked for me they would have been fired." she committed quietly. Honestly if she wear there boss she would have been embarrassed to call them her employs. But that mattered little as she made her way down the stairs two at a time. But the whole time she was being mindful of cameras and listening carefully for guards that may be in the stairwell with her.

As she went down she counted the floors 7, 6, 5, 4, then stopping when she hit the third floor the floor with the intensive care unit. Examining the door it did not appear to have an obvious electronic mechanism on this side. But looks could be dissiving she knew that all too well, thinking back to that after noon as a bitter taste filled her mouth.

This however was not the time as she continued to examine the door. Looking at the door further it seemed to only have an ordinary lock on it which seemed odd. Listening carefully she also could not hear and tell tale sound of electrostatic that you would hear from a door with an electronic lock. This meant on of two things, A this door was not rigged unlike the rest of the hospital as it was part of an older branch of the building and did not get updated yet, or B it was simply out of order. Whatever the case she was not going to complain as she pulled a piece of ribbon from her dress.

The ribbon was black like the rest of her dress but just like her it was deceptive in its use. With but a thought the floppy piece of fabric became hard like metal, but still retained a level of plyance. Sliding the ribbon in wear she assumed the doors latch was. It was slow at first as she pushed the ribbon in but slowly she could feel it hitting the latched. And with one more good push "CLICK" and the door was open. Praying the door open ever so slightly enough to wear it would not close again before for pulling her ribbon back and placing it back on her dress.

Cracking the door open only a crack enough to see out of but not enough to give her away. Peering through the slightly opened door looking for any one thankfully there were none. Earlier while disguised she entered the hospital and cased the whole floor over and this was the only door without a camera on it. The part that was annoying though was the fact that she was able to sneak in to the hospital during the day easy enough. The annoying part came in was that she could not visit her target during the day without being caught as it was family only.

Standing tall she opened the door stepping into the hall looking around just incase and much to her pleasure all the cameras she saw wear pointed down every hall except this one door. She knew she should not be cocky as this was purely a stroke of luck that no camera was pointed at this door. Her entry could have been much harder it not for poor security planning. But should would not complain as it made her job easier.

Her entry secure now all she had to do was enter alexanders room. So focusing on her dress as it began to shift and within seconds instead of a villain was a security guard. She then shifted her skin tone and much like her dress her porcelain white skin shifted to something a bit more inconspicuous. After all people usually go to the hospital when they have skin at white as paper a security guard with skin that color would draw attention. And finally using her powers she had her hair turn into a bun on her head before making a cap to hid her long hair. After all this was a military hospital so making her hair look military cut was necessary.

Looking to her left and seeing a large piece of glass that held an emergency fire alarm and looking over her reflection. She looked quite good if she had to say so, more the adequate to fool the nurses and doctors on the late shift...well so long as she kept her head down and her mouth shut.

Pleased with the results she began walking down the hall in front of her towards her quarry. As she walked she was mindful of the camra's making sure to not look up at them when one was facing her direction. She made sure to keep her head down and walk in blind spot when she could. She knew this behavior would be the first thing the police looked at if she was successful in her mission but she did not care as by then It would be too late.

Making to the end of the hall she made sure to stand in a blind spot as she saw the location of her target. It was an U shaped room with about a dozen smaller rooms with plain glass windows instead of doors with a few having their curtains drawn. In the center of the room was a large desk with two nurses both of whom wear facing the back wall away from her. There was only two sets of lights on right now, one above the desk the other a desk lap by the one nurse. This was good as it lessen the chance of being seen. However the real headache came in wear the nurses wear concerned.

Both nurses wear wearing plain scrubs as they worked the only thing that really set them apart for black swan was there hair as one had black hair the other blonde like her own. The one nurse with black was currently doing something on the computer though what she could not say. The other one however was more problematic however as while she seemed to be doing paperwork she was facing the door she needed to enter.

The room she needed to enter was the second one down from her current position. While this was not an unforeseen situation it was problematic. Watching the pair carefully as she tried to evaluate her situation for a solution. Looking around there was not a lot of options to this problem, she thought about throwing something but that had too many risks of being seen if the nurse looked towards her direction.

Black swan begin to bite her lip in annoyance wishing she was better at the kind of job as she was not equipped for this type of infiltration. She was equipped for spying a grifter good at getting information or breaking into a party without drawing attention. Not breaking into a military hospital. She was a grifter not a thief. And while she had several ideas on how to get into wear she needed if push came to shove. But this was not in an ideal situation as most of her plain save for getting into the building was make it up as you go.

But that was when she noticed the phone on the wall facing away from her destinations direction. 'That might work'. She though plainly While computers wear not her strong suit she knew enough to make a prank call to a phone considering she stole a copy of the hospital phone directory on her previous trip in here. 'but." looking at the nurse at the computer she had to get rid of one of them first before she could try it. However before she had time to ponder a plain to lure both away a loud clanging noise came from on of the rooms on the far wall making all three of them look.

Black swans jaw just hit the floor in surprise worried that she might have had her chance at recruiting blown by another parents heart attack or something. That was when she heard a laugh from the nurse at the computer "sounds like mr. wonderful finally woke up after his nap." the girl said humorously. The other nurse seemed less amused "blake he is a major I recommend that you watch what you say." the blond insisted professonaly to her partner. And black swan even had to admit that she had an impressive air of professionalism.

The blond then got up from her chair looking towards the other nurse "I can get it this time." she told the black haired woman. The woman turned casing black swan to shrink back to prevent herself from being seen. "You sure?" she heard the black haired women say to the blond from around the corner. Then making out what sounded like a scoff the black hair woman spoke "you sure? You know how much of a wynner he is." the woman said clearly trying to sound insulting. And while she could not see black swan assumed the blond brushed off this remark as she simply answere "yes I am sure." the woman said cooly. This made there unknowing thired a bit jealous of the women's no nonsense working attitude making her wonder if she could be like that.

"Your funeral." the black haired woman said again before she could make out the sounds of typing of keys again on the keyboard. After this she heard no response from the blond and only the tapping of shoes on the floor. And low and behold a few seconds later she saw the blond haired woman walking towards the far side of the open room. She then slid aside a curtin before entering the room.

Gathering her courage black swan looked around the corner and saw the other nurse typing away oblivious of the world around her as she did her job. Black swan on the other hand could not believe the stroke of luck she had just been given. 'Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth' she thought in silent joy even with her coldness in her heart.

So with this lucky break she walked out of the shadows with confidence as she made her way to the room. Take quite careful steps as she went, after all she was confidant not reckless. Once she made her silent walk over to the door she brushed the curtain aside to let herself in.

Once inside she was made aware of a rhythmic beeping sound of a heart rate monitor. Looking around she could see the room was basic at best. Though considering that most people that come to this unit wear unable to move a good amount of the time this was unsurprising. Ahead was the only visible decoration being that of a window of the snowy city. Finally there was another curtain in the middle of the room concealing all but the foot of the bed from view.

Pulling her phone out she saw that it was 10:49 a bit later then she would have liked but she still had about ten minutes before next check in with the nurses. More than enough time for what was needed. So putting her phone away in a secret pouch she walked forwards passing the curtin leaving herself in full view of her quarry.

Much to her surprise given his condition and the time his eyes,... er eye was wide open and they wear staring back at her with an intense glare. Weather or not this glare was from anger, suspension, or something else was entirely a mystery to the girl. But what she did not is that she did not have to worry about waking him. ' I truly am having a lucky day, perhaps when this is all over I should take marinette's earrings as I could get used to this.' she mused liking the idea of have good luck all day.

Before her happy thought turned bitter as she wondered if that was why adrian was into her. 'Was it because of the earrings?'. Well it did not matter as once gabriel was done with them she would make sure she got them. Of course she would give them back should he need them he was her benefactor after all, she owed him everything at this point. However this was besides the point as she looked on at the young man in front of her who now looked nothing like his old photo.

The boy alexander was an absolute mess to say nothing else that could be taken another way. Through the sheets. She could make out his form and to be honest it was pitiful. Wear his legs wear all she saw wear stumps wear his legs wear gone around the knee or slightly above. His hospital gown on his right was slightly sagging wear his entire right arm and a chink of his shoulder was gone. His once handsome face was a mess of scares abnormalities and a large patch above his left eye wear it used to be. His hair was almost gone and looked like it was only just growing back. He also had a respirator on his face and she could even hear the raspy breath he took. Finally on his left was most of an arm stopping about wear his elbow was.

And this was discounting all the wires and tubes hooked up to him in all manner of places that most certainly wear not comfortable. Infant looking at his just breathing seemed to be discomforting. As his chest rose and fell with slight feathering that one would do if in irritation or soreness.

The boy was truly a sight to see, and while she had read the reports seeing the damage in person was something else. And to be honest now seeing the full extent of the carnage it was easy to see why he was here. After all he apparently nearly died six time twice on the way to hospital, three times on the table, and once a few weeks later. It was honestly a miracle that the boy was even breathing, with a respirator much less at all.

As she gazed upon the boy further she took notice of what was left of his left arm hovering over a large red button attached to a cord. Regarding the boy with a look of suspicion as he did in return began to wonder if he figured out she was not a guard already.

This could be bothersome as if he pressed that button her little scheme would be over. But playing it cool she simply put on a fake smile and approached calmly with purpose taking intentional steps. With each step she could see the boys muscles in his arm tense as she got closer. But once she got as close as she dared to a distance she believe that she could speak safely and avoid being heard.

Standing about four feet away from the boy's right side she saw his eye regard her form with with suspicion confirming an earlier suspicion. The boys arm was resting mere inches away from the call button at his side in silent warning to here. This was made clear to the fact that she had to convince him that she was worth listening to. Through him not pressing the button right away was a good sign, as it meant that he was giving her the benefit of the doubt. For now at least.

"You do not want to hit that button." she said calmly looking at him her smile still present on her face/ though he seemed unconvinced as his arm simply went lower towards the button. Black swan felt a small tick of annoyance go through her at this. "Clearly you misunderstand me." she begin again trying a different approach. "I am not hear to harm you, but rather to give you an offer." she said trying to sound more alouring this time.

Alexander stared at her a moment but said nore did anything as if teller her to go on. Internally smiling at this response as she realized she was getting the hang of this. But barred though thoughts soon after as she needed to make haste. "My employer wants to make you an offer. One that I am sure you could only benefit from. And all he requires is your unique tactical talents for a mission." she began to explain much to the boy's surprise and suspicion by the look she had received from him.

"I know what happened to you." she begin again "know you have been wronged by those who you once considered close to you." she said to him and in an instant the boy's eye filled with rage if from her or a memory of someone else she was unsure. But her words clearly sparked a reaction in the boy and this was a good sign. But amazingly just as quickly the rage in him seemed to subside drastically surprising her. After all she was expecting him to be on a short fuse after what happened to him. However this was ironically good as for him to serve the way gabriel needs she needs someone who can keep a level head.

Her smile unwavering before continuing to make her case " I also know how it feels to have those near hurt you and I can help." she offered the boy much to his surprise at her confession. "In Exchange for you servicis my employer is willing to give you anything you desire. with in his limits of course." black swan calmly said wanting him to beware what was in it for him ."But" she started as her eyes lit up as if remembering something Before adding "I assure you alexander those limits are vast." wanting to make herself clear that they had much to give him.

This last statement from her prompted the first vocal responses from alexander. Leaning his head over to the side a bit with much difficulty and in a raspy voice simply asked, "wh-at c-could you possibly offer me?" finishing with a slight cough as speaking seemed to leave him out of breath.

However instead of being offended by his question he fake smile widened as she let her disguise melt away slowly revealing the form that truly lay in her. Her security guard outfit disappeared to reveal her dress, her skin changed from a light shade of cream to near pure white.

The entire time alexander's eye was wide with shock as he watched the girls form transform into that a beautiful girl with a balla dress and ornament mask. Being rendered speechless was clearly pleasing "Like what you see?" she asked again in an tone that breathed allure. "This kind of power can be yours. And much more." the girl told the boy who was still stunned almost literal breathless.

As she watched she noticed how close the boy's arm was to the button realizing that she might have to go through the window any second if things turned. But alexander then noticed as he looked at the button under his arm. A few second ticked by and then, his arm raised up and to his side before sliding the button away from him. His gaze turned to her again and gave a look that told her much but not as much as him. Taking another deep breath to speak before uttering a short phrase "l-ets talk".

The girl then reached for her secret pocket pulling something out before putting the same hand in front of his face. She let her hand sit closed in front of him for some time and his eye gazed upon the closed limb with suspicion. Then looking back up to the girl before him as her fake smile continued to show.

"I am glad you're being so cooperative" she began to say as she came a bit close to him making him watch suspiciously. She then opened her hand revealing the akuma butterfly she had taken with her. "But it is not me who you need to speak to." she said cooly as the bug flew out of her hand and onto his necklace that his brother convince the doctors to let him keep.

The emblem of hawk moth appeared on the boys face and soon after the voice of man appeared into his mind. "I suppose I should wish you a happy early birth day given the time." the voice said in a calm level tone. The voice was not one he recognised but it reminded him of his father, however unlike his father this voice did not have the same cynicism as his old man. Instead it felt honest. Or at least more honest then his father had ever been with him.

But he had no more time to ponder as the voice began in his head again "now then to business. I am glad you decided to hear me out as I need some recruits for my operation. You will be compensated of corse for you service. There won't be any medals or honors... but I assure you your payment will be in full if you acpet." the man in his head said to him in a military like fashion which sounded oddly appropriate to the boy.

"Should you choose to enlist I will see to it you get I high ranking in my unit and that you get the respect you deserve." he...no gabrielle said. He was not sure how he knew that name just that he did. "And" gabriel began to say "I will even allow the disciplinary action of admiral Donnan. With you prosiding." the man said with a sneer.

Just then an imig flew into his mind. It was an image of his father confided to a chair in a low chamber with many people sitting on a stand around him. It was then that he realized he was in some sort of courtroom. Then looking down he saw he had hands again. and in front of him was a large stand with a hammer. That was when it all made scenes he was the judge in this court.

Standing up for the first time in ages nor realizing he had feet he walked up to the stand o gaze at his court. Looking out his father was no longer in his chair but rather in a cage that was attached to a scale with him on one side. And the image, no portrait of….his mother on the other. Below the man he despised over all else was a bubbling cauldron of fire. And all around the court wear the people chanting for the man to be punished.

The chating was a mix of words but all of them directed at the same person. His father. They said "MURDERER! MONSTER! KILLER! LET HIM FALL LET HIM BURN! GIVE HIM JUSTICE!" and many more words beside it. But he could care less as he watched the man squirm trying to plead innocent. This made him feel powerful seeing the man who had hurt him know what it's like to feel like he had no control.

His vision then faded back into reality as he realized he was back in the hospital with only the memory of the scene left. Pondering these images wondering what he had just seen when the man's voice appeared in his head again. "This is but one of the things I can grant you for you deeds. All you need to do is to essential sign on the figurative dotted line and I will grant you power to achieve these ends." gabriel said promising him much greatness.

He was quite closing his eye, the voice in his head going silent and the girl watching him no long having her fake smile but a frown upon her face. While she could not tell what gabriel was thinking but she was worried that the boy would refuse and turn on her and that was something she was not eager for.

Then opening his eyes again he took another deep breath to speak and with raspy breath "sir yes sir" the words rang out loud and clear. The voice then returned seemingly pleased "then welcome to my unit lieutenant commander BLITZKRIEG! The man's voice echoed in his head.

As power began to surge through him into a process that gabriel had refined over the years/

Seconds later the boy was covered in a black and purple fine mist leaving black swan to black up slightly so not to get caught up in. watching the process up close was truly mesmerizing as she looked in aw at the spectacle. She had seen akuma being created more than once but never this close. There was something oddly beautiful about the process of the life being altered to fulfil its new purpose. Soon the process ended leaving alex….no blitzkrieg in his place.

At first there was nothing overly special about the boy appearance minus the fact that he was no longer hooked up to all the medical equipment which made her wonder why the alarm had not gone off.

But he did look much better his skin was darker almost the color of metal, his hear now black in color. There was also a metal plate over wear his left eyes should be that seemed to connect to the now black metal around his neck and what appeared to be light armour as well on his chest.

Then with eye close an arm raised itself from the bed almost as if it wear frankenstein 'A right hand'. The hand then came down and with a low clank of metal on metal on the side rails of the hospital bed. The frame of blitzkrieg the leaned forwards getting up off the bed. Then the boys body swiveled around to face her making her take a set back before move to the side.

The boys behavior had completely changed as he was starting to act mechanically and honestly black swan began to worry. After all to her knowledge there had never been two akuma in the same place or time before.

She continued to watch with trepidation as the mechanical man had his new leg slid out from the bed hang straight out before slowly lowering till the touched the ground. Then the akuma got up to stand straight without so much of a stumble which greatly impressed black swan given how long he had been laid up. The metal akuma the turned to face her before taking his cold mechanical leg and taking a slow but powerful step forwards. Each step took a second as he place one foot in front of the other moving what looked like quite a powerful fram. Taking yet another step back as the man slowly made his approach when she felt her back hit the wall. Realizing that if gabriel had ordered him to kill her she would be unable to stop him as she was not a fighter. Which given the looks of the akuma he was making her not eager to face him.

Unable to go anywhere else with raising an alarm she watched as he continued to walk forwards till he was nearly three feet from her. This was when she truly got a good look at the boy's new form in the dim light. And what a sight.

While his form on its own was not intimidating as his stature did not change much if at all but he was quite tall. Now that she got a good look at him she could see he was easily a few inches taller then she was making him at least 5,7. Then came his build, which was slightly less impressive being quite scrawny only being a bit thicker in the muscle mass department then she was. However one had to remember most of his muscle was not metal which if you forgot you likely would not live long enough to remember.

Speaking of metal he had quite a lot of it his entire form save for the right side of his head was covered in metal. The left side of his head save for his hair was covered in a grayish black metal that went to the back side of his head. There was also a oddly shaped piece covering his mouth with slits in it that seemed to form to the area around his face, but further inspection showed that it was articulated and was conforming with his breathing. Of which seemed to be improved greatly as his breath no longer sounded raspy.

His legs and arms wear mostly simply being ruffly human shaped and looking like they wear covered in square angled hockey armour. His arms wear a bit more convincing however as it was while angular it also had a smoothness to it that would make it hard to tell if he was wearing a shirt over it. His chest and back section seemed to be covered completely by a segmented armour that overlapped. There was a large plate that covered his upper chest with smaller sections with that over lapped on his sides and mid section.

All in all it was an impressive sight considering what he looked like a few moment before. But then his eyes opened and much to her surprise it had almost a void look in it. A moment later however before she could even react a red light ignited on his left side. It took a moment before she realized that the red light was an artificial eye.

Then both eyes real and fake focused on her leaving her breathless as her earlier concerns of death came to her. Then his right hand began to raise up words casing her to flinch slightly bracing herself ready to move. However much to her surprise the hand flattened out and went to his forehead. His posture straightened out his heels clicking together as his body locked in place. Then speaking in a deep cybernetic voice that sounded completely synthesized (think kylo ren that's what I feel he should sound like) said "lieutenant commander blitzkrieg reporting for duty." his voice monotone in nature.

Black swan was quite for a moment her fears of death and being cough momentarily forgotten as she just stared gapping in surprise at the man before her. Then her falk smile returned to her as she regarded the new akuma. "It's a pleasure to have you with us commander" she responded simply giving a ballerina bow.

The stayed this way for a few seconds black swan was not sure why but she just stayed that way far longer than she should. But a sound from outside got her attention it was the sound of the clattering of something hitting the floor by the desk. However that was not important what was, was leaving quickly.

Pulling her phone out and looking at the time it was 10:57 they only had three minute at best to leave. She cursed herself for they had taken too long to recruit him. She then made mental not not to take anyone the could not just kidnap without being noticed if they needed to.

Looking back to the new akuma this time with a somewhat pained expression as she regarded him "we need to leave" she said coldly. Walking towards the window looking out for a good place she could fly to, then looking back towards they other akuma 'he'll be fine if he jumps' she told herself as she picked up a chair. "Get read to run." she said over her shoulder getting ready to swing the only other piece of furniture in the room minus the bed.

But just as she went to swing the chair became amovible. Looking over her shoulder she could see the reformed left hand holding the large chair ferm. Black swan was about to tell him off as they needed to hurry but he simply pulled the chair out of her grasp before setting it back down on the ground. Then stood in front of the window before saying "I have already taken care of the security systems by remote hacking so... please allow me." he said in a pilot fashion.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

 **Mr fu's clinic & house**

Eyes snapping open from deep meditation as he felt the surge of dark energy. Immediately he knew something was afoot in the city, something bad. And while he would openly admit that the first wave could have just been adrian if his information was right adrian was now wear he should be in the home of marinette. Where he hoped that the pair would finally learn from each other and get over their own shortcomings like so many before.

But this was different this was to dark and malicious to be cat noir, as cat noir was was darkness but not not evil. This energy though had dark intent written all over it. This made it impossible to be adrian and adrian would never use such powers. And even if he did he was still in no condition to fight.

So reaching into his pocket and pulling out something he had been saving for the past few day's for just this occasion. "Wayzz!" he called out to his kwami casing a green streak to flee from his drawer in front of the master.

"Yes master. You summoned me?" he asked politely with a short bow making the old master smile gently at his partners politeness. But that smile faded quickly as he held up a letter to the spirit. "Yes wayzz i need you to make a delivery for me." he answered handing wayzz the latter "I need you to take this to marinette i am afraid she will need it." he added.

Then master fu got up and walked over to his room with wayzz close behind him unsure of what his master was up to. "What's going on master?" the green spirit asked a worry filling him not liking when his master acted this way. "I sensed it again." the master replied quickly "I felt the power from before again this time it was strong. This time there were two." the man said a grim tone starting to fill his voice. he then grabbed a trunk and opened it and began to pack.

"TWO!" wayzz gasped in alarm at these words, one dark signature was bad enough but two dark signatures in this day and age was only going to be the start of a war. However wayzz was a bit sceptical dark magic users had not been seen in years, well unless you counted hawkmoth. So there was room for skepticism after all what if it was just a magic artifact, after all those showed up every now and then.

"Um… master." the spirit started tentatively only for the master not to even look at the spirit. "Master are you sure it's not something else?" he asked this time fu paused in step with his work having half packed the trunk already. How can you be sure its a dark user? We defeated the last dark user with the others over a hundred years ago. There are no more. And it most certainly can't be hawk moth he can only create one akuma at a time. So what if it's something else?" he asked worried riddling the kwamis voice as he looked at the back of his master.

Master fu then turned round to face his old friend. While his face had the usual smile that held kindness and wisdom, there was also worry and uncertainty. And that's when it hit wayzz master fu did not know what they wear facing. Mater fu soon after returned to packing till his suit case was full.

Then walking out of his room towards the door "But what will you do?" wayzz asked concerned for his holder as the man grabbed his coat and umbrella. The old master then sighed turned to his long time friend, "I need to look into some matters. Something dark is afoot and now I am sure of it. There is too much we don't know and now I need answers as to what could cause this." the elder answered as his put on his coat fastening the article around himself.

"But what about the other miraculous without you who will guard them?" wayzz then asked his master hoping to find a way to fu stay. Also he was just worried for his brothers and sisters as without holders they wear defenceless. After all that was the job of the watcher was to protect the artifacts while there wear kwami with no matching holders.

Wayzz however still held concern for what was to be done much less what his holder plained to do however. "But if it's about the miraculous or magic you have plenty of books on them." wayzz questioned as over the years they had attained quite a collection.

But fu was not satisfied by this clearly "are collection does not hold everything about magic or even about the miraculous and I need to be sure. Which is why I need to go to the place it all started." he answered deadly serious

Master fu did not seem too concerned however and it showed when he spoke "put them in there boxes and place them in there secret places that we planned for. If this is gabriel he will be to busy getting his new ally up to speed to go after the miraculous right now. Besides even he can't be in two places at once." he told his quammy confidently as he finished noting his scarf. "Also." he began "if marinette needs anything she has free access to all are knowledge…." he told the green spirit. "with your supervision, just for her own safety." he added after a moment of though, the green spirit nodded "of course." wayzz replied know all too well how dangerous some information could be.

"No someone needs to stay here and monitor the situation and your the only one who can while I am gone. Also someone needs to keep and eye on marinette and adrien and worn them if needed. This way we will covor far more ground." the elder reasoned.

While master fu's reasoning was sound to an extent he could not help but feel this was a bit rash. He knew that if fu leaving he would only leave if he faced a threat he had no information on , that did not mean he was not worried though "But what if something happened what if you have need for me? And how would I contacted marinette and adrien if your gone while" he asked his voice filled with concern as he floated before his master.

Master fu was less concerned however. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself. And if I dose come to a situation where I am in need of your aid I will summon you my old friend." he answered kindly. A large smile then appeared on his face catching wayzz off guard. "Also if you need to contact marinette in a hurry use the computer. That's what it's for after all." he answered wayzz humorously with a short laugh at his question

As he was about to leave a light bulb went off above his head in remembrance of something. "And I we are going to need have to find more candidates for the miraculous." added in remembrance as he opened the door to his home preparing to step out. The man turned his head once more to look at the turtle kwami before adding " unfortunately marinette and adrien are going to need all the help they can get if I'm right. " he told the spirit as he left. and with that the master left leaving wayzz letter in hand to deliver to marinette so that hopefully she will be prepared. Wayzz bit his lip with nerves as while he trusted master fu explicitly he worried greatly for the elders safety. He just hoped his master found the answers they needed and returned before it was too late.

Looking down at the envelope he sighed heavily at his new burden. Not only did he have to hid his siblings in secret places he and fu set up just incase after gabriel stole norroo, but he also had to keep an eye out for more holders. And he had to scenes for dark pressences and warn marinette should to show up again. And that was on top of his normal duties. "Sigh' why did things have to turn out this way?" he asked as he went to find a map of paris so he would not get lost while delivering his message.

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

 **French naval base hospital**

It was time to make the quarterly rounds on the floor and thankfully it was a slow night with only three patents in the ecu. 'Thank the lord the its been slow around here recently I don't think I can take to many more all nighters.' the blond nurse thought to herself as it had been busy before this recent reprieve and many doctors and nurses wear glad at the recent drop in accidents.

As the woman headed to check on the boy why had been in and out of ecu for as long as she had work at this hospital she could not help but feel a bit of pity for the boy. ' poor kid never gets any visitors from what I hear. The only one who come is his brother and he's out on active from what I herd down from x-ray the other day. And his birthday tomorrow to poor guy.' she thought to herself sadly.

She had known the boy most of the people in the hospital did he had been there in there care since he was fourteen so it was hard not to. Perminett cases wear always sad as that meant they could never recover enough to leave.

As she approached the door to his room she felt something off namly a draft from under the pulled curtin. Normally in icu curtains wear left open so the could better care for patents incase anything was wrong but alexandra was getting moved back to his old room in the morning as he had stabilized enough to be left alone. However this did not explain the breeze as no window above the first floor could open.

Heart filled with dread as the young nurse threw open the curtain before dropping the clipboard she had been holding. "MILANA CALL THE POLICE!" she shouted casing the a startled cry to erupted from the black haired women. She then heard her partner stumbling over to her side as she tried to speak "What is it freyja? What what's going…." but stopped mid sentence as she stood beside her.

The pair for several moments wear unable to move as the looked to the room with horror. On the opposite wall wear the window was there was now a giant hole large enough for a person to fit through. And the a piece of glass that once filled the hole now laid carefully placed off to the side. Moments later the pair broke from there stuper and ran to their stations to call the authorities and the guards on bass to lock the place down.

Unknown to the pair however nearly a mile away from the hospital standing on a rooftop with his new partner was blitzkrieg. And now that this beast was unleashed it would not be long till the whole of paris was about to deal with five of the most dangerous people the city had ever seen. Standing in front of the bird girl after there escape he was flexing his hands looking at them, examining them. It was clear that he was unused to the feeling of being upright and was experimenting with his new body.

She could not suppress a tiny curl of her lip in amusement at his actions reminding her of some sort of puppy seeing something for the first time. "Cold?" she asked walking to his side, while she knew he had magic now like she did there was the chance he did not have any that protected against the cold. But he was not as without looking away from his hand "No." he answered curtly.

He did however have a question for his new partner "what is are mission for master gabriel." he asked devoid of emotion. Turning his head to face black swans porcelain face which staired back still slightly intimidated. Black swan in response simply ushered for him to fallow "you have some catching up to do." she answered.

And as the pair wents the went insides to discuss what was to come gabriel could not prevent a small smile the graced his face at everything going so well. And it showed when he spoke as with pride he said 'humf' two down….four to go."

-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-

 **Oh boy was this an interesting chapter I have to say. One of my best yet without doubt. And now the second akuma nd gabriels second in command has been chosen. This akuma will be by far the most troublesome to deal with I am sure and convert if they can. As not only can he control his emotions but he is also super smart and the akuma powers which you will be shown later are only going to make him more powerful. This means that he will be the jedi of akuma as this akuma who is not prone to impulse action because of rage will be in full control of himself and be able to think logically. so be ready to see some intense battle from this one.**

 **Any way I am sure some of you will be made I got rid of master fu but there is method to my madness. This is all part of my plain for this story and the logic in story is this. A new threat comes up something that is similar to akuma but not after all the book even says only one akuma at a time not two. So he will be doing research and when he come back he will have information that will...lets say change things.**

 **Plus I need set up for more holders that's right more holders, if you did not catch on from the dialog cat and lady are going to need some help after all gabs got four of those shelved bugs left he most certainly is not going to stop at two. Who will become a holder and which kwami will be used? Well I am not about to tell you yet. But feel free to guess as I do enjoy hearing about you the readers ideas.**

 **Also I will be addressing the who chole, adrian, marinette, thing eventually for those who are worried. Its just going to take a while as other important plot points need to be covered before that. Plus I need some tension and conflict for later and this will help add some tinder later. I also don't want to use all my good material to quickly pulse once I do get to the point when its relevant it will all make scenes.**

 **Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter as this is by far my favorite chapter thus far. Also feel free to comment and give constructive criticism as I do value my readers opinions. It helps me greatly when people do as it helps make my story better to letting me know about problems or mistakes I've made, or even reminds me when I forgot something so please feel free as it's a great help to me.**

 **Ether way hope this was a good chapter for all of you. Like I said feel free to leave a comment. And if you want fav or follow and please have a great day.**

 **One more thing as a side no my next chapter might be a bit late because I am going to be out of town and held up because of the holiday's but I should have one more chapter before christmas. but I can't make any promises that I am unsure I can keep because it's a busy year for me this time so if i don't post next month. I am sorry but it's a busy month.**


	14. Chapter xii MIA

**I'm back! Ok as you can probably tell I'm not dead yet even though I am guessing so of you thought I had given up the ghost, or miraculous if you would. Anyway sorry for the extreme delay I was held up with this project and that trying to get ready for the holidays plus I have projects I had to get done for my real job. Unfortunately I don't get paid to do these stories as if I did I might…..honestly I'm not sure what I would do. Regardless I'm back and you can expect slightly more regular updates unless my scheduling goes sideways again.**

 **Ether way with all that said as promised I have a new chapter to share with you my readers so without further adieu it's time for the unveiling. This chapter will not feature any of the aforementioned cast but rather be more of a background chapter a chapter in between the chapters. But the information in this one will play a big part in the development for my characters going forwards down the line. So while it may not seem important it vary much is to my story**

 **So now that all has been said let take it away and enjoy.**

 **CHAPTER XII M.I.A**

It was a cold morning several inches of snow had fallen the night before making travel for many difficult as the winter season came. This new snow left the world white and filled with beauty akin to a painting hiding the collective ugliness of the world. There was also an atmosphere of joy filling the world as the holidays were approaching and this snow made it all the more evident.

But this was of no consequence for admiral donnan however as he sat in his office going over paperwork. for this month it had been quite busy as many of the old guard wear retiring this year and that meant a spike in the work load. And with the holidays coming and the added security that they had begun to employ around the country this time of year….well it meant a lot of paperwork for him being the one at the top on the military ladder.

Currently though while he was doing the near endless task of paperwork he was more eager for a call he was hoping would come the past few days he had been awaiting confirmation of intel he had received.

A few days before they received word of suspicious activity on a small island just off the coast. And with the holidays coming up this made both himself and much of the senior staff very nervous. Combine this with all the vicious attacks by one rouge group or another in the past twenty years, and people like gabriel agreste they wanted to know for sure what it was. So to see for sure once and for all what it was and weather or not they should raise the alarm they sent one of their subs to spy on them.

It had been about two days since that intel came in and he dearly hoped that it was not what he was afraid of. While it did not show the idea that a potential attack or even a war was on the horizon most certainly frightened him. After all his father even said only fools are he worked going over one document to the next and so one when his pager on his desk begin beeping.

Looking over to the pager for only a moment before pressing the answer button. "Yes carter?" he asked his secretary who was no doubt in the room next door doing three things at once like always even while talking to him. A call from the police is coming in on line three a detective wishes to speak with you." the secretary said to him.

The admiral let out a grown as that was the third call that day from the police. He was growing annoyed from this as more than likely it was the police calling about the ruckass some of the cadets cased the other day. And because he was the man in charge the police detective in charge was probably just looking for an excuse to publicly ridicule him.

No matter he would no allow this to happen nor would he have this man or woman to insult the french navy. Instead he would send someone to deal with whatever trouble his men cased later. For now he needed to focus on his job and get through this mountain of paperwork if he ever wanted to go home tonight.

I am sorry carter but please tell them that I am in the middle of classified work and can not be disturbed. And that I shall contact them later." he said into the intercom. The women on the other side was quite again but soon it came to life again. "I told them sir." she told him calmly. "However the man requested that as soon as you are free that you must contact him as soon as possible." she informed him a second time.

The admiral had to internalize a grown of anger as she told him this as clearly this man who ever he was was eager to make his life hard. No matter he would deal with it later when he had less paperwork. Besides he had an important call he had been waiting for and he did not wish to be dealing with the police until he knew that matter was resolved.

And as much as he hated paperwork it was a good excuse to avoid the police for the duration of the morning and part of the afternoon for sure. After all he did not lie as a number of the documents he had to look over and have filed wear due in less then a weeks time and a good number of them wear classified.

However just as he was about to reach for the next file his intercom came to life once again and this time he could not hold in a grown. "What is it now carter?" he said sharply making the women jump slightly as he heard the poor women move in her chair. "You have a video call coming in sir." she answered hesitantly only moments after he had asked.

This got his attention as he put a document he was going to look over down now being forgotten in favor of this new development. "Who is it?" he asked this time wondering who could be calling him as he went over in his mind who it might be. He did not have to wait long though as without missing a beat his secretary cart answered "I can't say sir its from a secure line and I don't have clearance." was her answer.

This immediately sent riged aged admiral even straighter than before as everything else left his mind. "Patch him through" he said without thought turning his computer back on as he turned it off while he was not using it. Pressing the button the screen came to life a few moments later. Then using the mouse he clicked on the program that allowed him to receive the video calls.

At first he hated the idea of computerizing everything like they had done so far. But even he had to admit that he liked this modification as with video he could increase communication efficiency by not only talking to someone but also seeing what his allies wear seeing in real time. This was invaluable in situations that called for operational awareness. Something that he greatly enjoyed putting to use.

His secretary said nothing as he heard the line of his paddger go dead as she was doing as requested. Then his screen that was dark a moment before went black making him wonder if there was something wrong or maybe he had done something. Not being very good with computers thanks to his age and a general lake of understanding about such devices was not helping ether.

But a moment latter his screen lit up again this time with the image of a sharp gray eyed uniformed officer to meet him. "Admiral donnan." the man said saluting him. The admiral feeling a small ping of pride in his heart saluted back "captain roy hunter...it is good to see you." he responded in kind to the man on the screen. The captain lowered his hand back to a desk that was in frame at the bottom of the screen. "It's good to see you as well admiral."

After exchanging pleasant greetings it was time to get down to business and the admiral knew it. Captain hunter was a submarine commander who had been sent to investigate the reports they had been getting and it was high time the chain of command found out what was going on.

"Well you did not contact me for pleasantries. Report. What did you find?" The captain then straightened up his face becoming serious as he was addressed and asked about the state of his op. "Sir as ordered I and my crew investigated the island. After arriving we begin long range surveillance we found what the people there were up to…." he began to explain however his face contorted a bit in conflict."Go on." the admiral asked growing impatient with the man.

"Well you see…. It was… it was a gambling operation sir." he finally admitted making the admiral lean back in his chair in surprise at his words. "Gambling?" he said said not quit asking a question but also not stating a fact ether.

"Yes sir we stumbled upon an illegal gambling operation." he said as he started to explain what happened earlier that day. We only found out by accident when at approximately 0300 hours this morning we observed the people at this sight unloading several large crates off a bout by forklift. One create that was off loaded however was not loaded properly I have to assume as it fell off the lift. And to are surprise broke open and began to spill slot machines and roulette tables into the water. After this we contacted the proper authorities anonymously and left it to the police."

The explanation was not long but it spoke bounds and was a most welcome change of pace compared to what it could have been. And while he hated wasting resource on a red herring he prefered that over the out a stressed sigh he had been holding as the information began to sink in relieved it was just a false alarm from paranoia.

However as the man looked down towards the screen again he noticed that the caption had a look on his face that just spoke of something being on his mind. "Is there something else you would like to inform me of that I should be made aware about?" he asked calmly but also hiding hidden dread hoping it was not another situation that had occured while they were investigating.

The captain was silent for a minute as though deciding his words leaving the admiral only to wonder what he was thinking. Then after this time he asked "Sir permission to speak freely." the man said as calmly as he could his voice trembling a bit in anticipation.

The mans request took him slightly by surprise but it did not show as he contemplated his answer. He did not take long however deciding what ever the man had to say was of an unimportant personal nature. Most likely about his upcoming wedding that he got an invitation for last week. So with that in mind he answered "permission Granted. Now what is it that you so desperately want to say?"

The man nodded at this in response. He was quite again for a moment making the admiral wonder if he was going to get cold feet. "With all do respect sir I think you should see him." the man said finally taking the admiral by surprise.

"I know I do not have any right to say this sir but I do believe it is long past time you see him." the captain continued to say. "I know what happened sir." the man confessed. " I've also overheard that today is your sons birthday. And I think you should finally go and see him. You have been avoiding it for far too long sir and I think you should stop running and face him." he said his voice was still trembling a bit

The admirals jaw was locked a disapproving look maring his face his eyes looking dangerously at the captain. "You right you don't have the right to speak with me that way captain. And I think it is now time you return to your patrol." having said his peace he raised a hand to reach for the mouse so he could close the video program. But before he could turn it off "Then when are you going to stop running?" the captain said to him.

His hand was right there on the mouse with the icon hovering in the close icon but at the same time could not. The question was there and it could not be taken back ether the fact was he himself had no answer. While he wanted to just say it was unimportant or that he had other things that demanded his attention those wear only temporary stop answer was he just did not wish to see his son, or rather he he could not bring himself to see his son.

"I know I could be court marshalled for this sir but I do think it time you stop making excuses. I would give up my carrier to speak with my father one more time but you have the luxury to speak with your son still. I don't" the man confessed to him.

The captain's words cut deeply into the admiral heart as they wear telling not only of the man on the small screen before him but of himself. The captain even said it he would give up everything to see his father one more time. But what of himself he could visit his son with the only cost being that of the fuel to get there.

So the real question was would he go an see his son despite being able to see him whenever he want. Or would he ignore the boy until one of them passed away from ether natural cases or some other means? Was that what he wanted to leave his son to die alone.

He knew his son's condition was irreversible the damage to the boys body to server as he would always require some form of life support thanks partly to the shrapnel still in him, but also due to the damage to the boy's lungs from the heat and smoke. This ment even if he sons life could be improved is some fashion with prosthetics or some other form of assistance his day's wear forever numbered. The last time he spoke with the doctor he said he had maybe five years left. And while there was always the chance of some new therapy or surgery to correct the damage the fact was his son would likely die before himself.

"He will never forgive me." he finally admitted to the captain. Weather it was due to him being unable to hide from his past any longer or just admitting defeat in his failings he was unsure. But the end result was the same he could not find it in himself to meet with the boy who had turned into a young man while he stayed in his office only about a short thirty minute drive away from his office.

Maybe he won't" the captain replied, "but." he began to say "you won't know that until you speak to him. And you can't keep punishing yourself for it either." he adding trying to sound reassuring to the elder. However the admiral just scoffed clearly disbelieving the captain's words to him looking away to something off the screen even reaching for something he could not see.

"My pride and vanity of the legacy of my family lead me to this madness. In my selfish crusade of supposed honor caused the death of his mother….my wife. And his permanent disfigurement. This is not something that some girl in a dress dancing and singing can fix. This is reality!...and reality is not kind to people."

The mans words true or not wear words of pain and self hate was to the point that if hawkmoth still lived it was more than likely that he would be turned into the man's puppet. It was a frightening thought that a situation that would usually just require a bit of time and talk used to require drastic action to spare the city of a disaster. And with someone as connected to classified files as the admiral would fill even the most daring with dread.

Seeing this the captain frowned seeing that he was not getting through. It was easy to see now that this had been eating away at the man ever since the accident. Without the powerful air or facade that he always wore he looked like a tired and broken old man. A man who only had a shotty and cobbled scenes of purpose left to keep him going. A man who's guilt was eating away at his soul till nothing was left to consume and he finally died a sad and tired death.

As he looked at the man that was his broken admiral he wondered what he could do to change his views. After all it's not like either his or his sons time was getting any longer either was the chance of them getting together with out help getting any larger. That's when an idea came to the captain.

"you When I was a teen my father died and I blamed him and turned my back on everyone. I got into trouble and locked up in juvie twice. So when I got busted for carjacking with some people I thought were friends I thought that was it. My so called friends turned on me hoping they could get off by making me look like the bad guy. So when an old admiral entered the room and gave me a choice."

The admiral looked back towards captain hunter a slight glimmer in his eye in recognition. It was clear the tale held some importance to him as his attention was returned to the screen with interest. Listening carefully as the sub commander continued.

"You sir gave me a choice either enlist or go to prison. I chose and now I am the commander of a military class submarine. And it's all thanks to you. If you had not supported me I would not be wear I am today. I was just a stupid kid who had no place in the world or purpose. And yet you stuck your neck out for me and stood up for me when I had no reason to be wear I was. But you gave me a second chance and thanks to you I have this job, I have a home, my family back, and now a fiance and wear getting married next summer."

"If you had not gone so far out of you way for me I would probably be either in a prison cell or in a ditch somewhere. But now I have my life back. And now I plan on returning it. But not by telling you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. And I am telling you, you need to stop running from your son as he will only hate you more the longer you avoid him. You need to let the past go and face your opponent. You will only regret it later if something happens to him if you don't say your piece."

After his long speech all was quiet as nether the captain or the admiral said anything. And while captain hunters there was lingering worry as the silence put an edge in the air. This quite pause lasted for several minutes before the admiral finally let out a breath. Before asking "who told you about my son?" questioning the man's knowledge of thing. The commander just smiled coockily before replying "your secritary sir."

The man's frown only grew as he groaned edible and in that moment could even swore that he heard his secretary making noise outside. "I should have known." he said a few seconds later. "I should have known she was incapable of keeping her mouth shut." he muttered iritibly only to receive a chuckle from the sub captain.

After this the air of tension and stress was gone now replaced by a far more friendly atmosphere. The captain suggested that the admiral go and visit his son today so that he could start to mend their relationship. There was the very good chance nothing would change on the first visit but the captain was adamant that he just needed to keep visiting regularly. And the occasional gift my help as well.

After a few minutes of this the captain needed to go and finish his reports and gave the aging man his wish of good fortune and reminded him to be patient before logging off. This left the man alone in his office to mill over the possibilities surrounding him. That was when an idea struck the admiral.

"Carter." he spoke into the mic almost to fast to hit the button. The haste in which he spoke to the woman in his outer office was clearly telling of something happening. As when she spoke "sir are you alright?" she questioned a tone of worry in her voice. There was silence on the line as well. Normally when she answered him she was always doing something that he could here so it was clear she was worried that something happened.

The man seeing this mistake corrected it by speaking in a more level tone before answering "yes cart I am fine carter. I just need you to contact the head of the r&d department jone for me and tell him I wish to speak with him." he said much slower no longer sounding rushed. It was quite for a few more moments before the rhythmic tapping of key's before her answer "understood sir." she responded once again sounding caim.

The reason for his request was simple he was for starters good friends with the man for years now. But the main reason for this particular call was became his friend was currently heading the medical side of r&d with promising results for people who suffer from terrible trama. It would surely cost him a few favors but if he played his cards right and said the right things to the right people he could get his son in to the program. If he succeeded his son while not being cured could very well be able to live a much more fulfilling life with the time he had remaining.

It was not much but it was all he had left to hope for as there was not much else he could do. He was no doctor or social worker so there was little he could do else. And if he was not accepted while there were other avenues to explore he did want to fix this.

Then a few moments after that she asked if he was well "sir is there anything else you would like me to assist you with?" she questioned in return. The man thought about this for a minute before looking over to his left to see a picture of his with his youngest in her arms when he was only a month old.

Making up his mind in that moment made his choice "yes carter there may be something. Are there any important matters on the docket today?". The question came out calmly without divulging any information as to his reasons. He then heard more taping of key's then after a few moment "no sir no appointments just a meeting on the upcoming maneuver this spring." she answered swiftly.

The frown he had warn deepened at hearing this partly do to the fact that he had forgotten about that meeting with everything going on. But he had more pressing matters on his mind that demanded his attention. "What time is this meeting?" he inquired hoping to put it off till later.

Once again he heard another short storm of typing on the other end before she once again came up with swift answer. "The meeting is at 1600 hours. Which is in approximately three and three quarter hour." she answered in cool fashion.

This was not a lot of time and he would have to use it sparingly as he had to attend that meeting he had little choice in that. But he was far from recruit level so if he was a bit late he could not image to much trouble. Besides he would be visiting his son surly the other head of staff incharge of the war games would understand. after all nothing would be decided for a few months and it was not classified. They would surely understand if he had a note left for them warning them he might be late so long as he gave his reasons.

So making his decision he spoke into the mic of the intercom one more time. "Carter call my car and have come around to pick me up." he requested. This request was obviously met with suspicion from his secretary "is there something going on sir?" she questioned with a hint of concern. But it was not matter to him. "No nothing has happened I am simply visiting someone in the hospital." he answered politely.

This left the woman quite again for a few minutes before once again responding "yes sir right away.". Then like clockwork he heard the sound of the phone being picked up. The admiral was about to get up out of his chair when he realized he had nearly forgotten something. "And carter send a note to let the others know I may be a bit late to the meeting." he requested quickly nearly forgetting.

Now hearing the scribbling of paper through the come before hearing replay "yes sir right away." she answered. Then a moment later added "Any precise time that I should let them know you will be late by?". She requested.

The admiral thought about this but instead of giving an exact time simply answered "no just let them know I might be late from visiting someone in hospital and that they may start without me.".

And with that he prepared to leave grabbing his coat and hat a few thing in his briefcase and what not. He quickly got himself bundled and made his last minute preparations as he knew his car would be waiting and while it was his car he did not like leaving people waiting unnecessarily. However before leaving he looked back down towards the picture of one of his two sons and his wife for several moments unable to look away from if. Taking a deep breath to calm himself before leaving. 'I must make this right. I will not fail my family again. If not for me or you, but are son'

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

In a car some time later

It was snowing again in the city of parise as the heavy flow of white crystals fell from the heavens. Ignoring this display sitting inside a car paying no mind to the wondrous sight was the admiral. It was nearly two in the afternoon or 1400 and he was finally on his way to the hospital. So sitting waiting as his driver drove him to the hospital they wear delayed by traffic. This gave him time to think about his actions and how he could have done things difrently. He in all honesty had not thought this much about it since his wife was buried but now it was coming back in spades.

Looking down he had a bag full of things he had gotten for his son alexander. At first he wanted to go straight away before he lost his nerve but then reminded himself that it was his sons birthday. So in trying to act more like a father for once to his second and only other son got a few items from a gaming store he remembered his son mentoning.

When he heard his son talking circles around himself about the place when he was young he paid him no mind. His mother was always the way to take him having never understood the desire to play a game on a machine. He even went to the store as late as 0-00 hours just to by some game. Back then he did not understand why his son did it as he always ignored him. And now he was wishing he took the time to understand the boy's way of seeing.

Thankfully it had not close or moved or he was unsure of what he would do. But much to his surprise the store while looking small on the outside was huge on the inside easily twice the size of his first barkekc when he first enlisted.

When he walked in the store clerk gave him a funny look but the woman behind the desk was polite. Though he had to admit while he was not wearing anything the said about his rank or anything he would be unable to deny he looked out of place. This was even more evident as he stood like a fool at the door taking in all the sights of the place.

Thankfully before anyone really took notice of him the woman at the counter came to his aid and asked if he needed help. To which he politely answer with a yes mam replayed that he needed a few gifts for his son as it was his birthday. then another man in his thirties or early forties came up from under the counter.

The man had a clean shaven head pale skin and wore a tank top with the stores logo on it. He then introduced himself as the stores owner and could not help but overhear there being a "birthday in the air" as he put it.

Going back to his old memories he vaguely remembered his son mentioning the stores friendly owner. And how the man had often gone out of his way to find what the customer was looking for. So to meet the man while not the most surprising thing he had ever heard made him start to wonder what life would have been like if he put more time with his family not his job.

Though what came next did surprise him as the man stared at him for a few moments before say that he recognised him as a military man. And even more surprising when the man said that he served as well in the air units of the military. This was a surprise to him and when he asked why he stopped serving the man simply lifted his leg to show a metal rod. Before giving advice to not stand behind a defective rocket that had fallen off a plains mount.

After that unsettling topic had passed the owner asked who the birthday was for. So seeing no harm in it as the information was in the public domain told the man the name of his son and the man gaped in surprise.

Apparently his son was a bit of a celebrity around the shop often winning at tournaments that the store hosted. So the man practically gave him the grand tour of the place and explained everything he knew about games. And while the aged admiral would never have pegged the military and games to be closely related this mans near boundless knowledge on both topics proved him wrong.

So in the end he got his son with the advice of the owner a half doven things for him. And when he went to pay the man gave him a discount much to his continual surprise. When he asked about this the man said that they always give discounts to those that are in and retired from the service. While the man's generosity was unnecessary he thanked the man before leaving with his prize so he could visit his son

As he walked out though he could not help but linger a moment and ponder what it would have been like to be with his son when he was young. His wife took care of both his sons so he never did much until they wear older. But now he was wondering what it would have been like to be with someone who still had wonder in their eyes.

That just left his long wait to get back to the base hospital till trafic cleared and they could move in a more timely manner. Though if he wear honest he was quite nervous more so then he had ever been before. It was foolish he knew but he could not help it with everything going on and what he was about to do….

He then felt the car moving again making him look out the front window seeing thee traffic had pretty much gone. This put his nerves on more so than before as he knew they were very close now. With in minute, less even he would arrive at the hospital and would finally meet his son. And perhaps finally put to rest the unyielding shame he felt once and for all.

"RING! RING! RING! " taking his mind off the past events before bringing his mind to his phone as it rang. Groaning annoyed by the noisy device in his pocket wishing he did not need to carry the device. In Fact it was a well known fact that he only had the item for emergencies if he did not need it he most certainly would not have it.

Pulling out the still ringing phone looked at the screen and much to his surprise it was his secretary carter. This made him wonder why she was calling him as she knew better then to contact him unless it was important and he doubted that a situation came up that was so bad it required his help. The world was politically unstable but not that unstable. Besides they wear a con leve 5 so unless some catastrophic happened it was unlikely he was being called in. the other reasons why this was odd was because if it was that important it would not have been carter who called him but someone from a secure line.

However looking closer at the number made color start to drain from his face as the number she was using was the number she only used for emergencies. Being the old dog he was he gave his secretary two numbers one for general use like meetings or reports and the like. But the other number was used only in the event of emergency. It so far had only been used a countable number of times, once each when his sons were born, ocne when his parents passed away once when his one son got injured in the line of duty, and the last was when his wife and son…. So in haste he answered the call to see what happened hoping beyond hope that it was not either of his sons and that it was just a miss dlie or something.

Hearing the click on the other he heard the he heard the hurried sounds of tapping and on wood along with panicked breaths. A moment after the click rang over the line the voice of his secretary came through loud and clear. "Sir wear wear you? I have been trying to get in contact with you for nearly half an hour." she said frantically. This puzzled him greatly as he recived no calls, but then remembered he was in that store and on his older phone the signal might have been lost.

He was about to ask what happened when his drive next called out to him. "Sir you may wish to see this." he said making the admiral look up from his place and much to his horror saw a sight he would never forget.

Outside the hospital wear a swarm of police, federal and military police vehicles. While there wear only a few people from said agency's outside the buildings there were likely dozens inside. It was then his mind drifted back to the calls from the police. He briefly wondered why someone did not notify him, but then remembered telling others to not disturb him unless it was of grave importance to the country or military.

Without hesitation he dropped his phone and immediately rushed out of the car despite the drivers protests for his safety. His things and presents for his son forgotten as he rushed towards the hospital. Leaving the door hang as he did so with the burning dread pulsing in his blood.

He ignored the looks of passers by noticing his rushing form. He pushed passed the officers outside ignoring there words of discontent at his actions or to be careful. He ignored the saluts of two guards who recognised him as he past who wear in all lickly hood posted there after the crime. He ignored it all as the only thing on his mind right now was making sure he had not lost his son and only chance at making things right once more.

And without thinking went to the elevator already familiar with the layout despite his lack of visits and knew his son would be in one of two places. His first stop was to the ICU wear he knew his son would be from the hospital calling him last week. As he stood alone in the elevator each and every passing second felt like an eternity for the man. But soon the doors opened with a ding and released him to the intensive care floor.

Being released from the moving metal prison he immediately departed nearly crashing into a pair of doctors who wear very displeased with him but he could care less as he steam rolled his way forwards. He made his was through the halls turning this way and that through the corridors.

Then just as he made his way to the hall that contained the ICU he literally bumped into someone much to his surprise. But once again he pushed past as he could see the very room he was looking for. And as if the heavens had it out for him much to his worst fear there was police tape blocking off one of the rooms and the surround. Seeing this made him go white and all he could do was pray it was not his. As much as he would not like to have another's son or daughter taken he was also a father and as selfish as it was he did not want to lose his son. He may have been a terrible father but that did not mean he wanted to lose him not when he was so close to finally seeing him. He had to make this right he just had to.

But before he could take another step as an hand grasped his arm impeding his forward progress. Turning round to face the man who would try and stop him and give whomever it was a reprimand they shall never forget.

But when he turned round he was met with the steely gaze of the police chief of all people. The sight of police chief….eh rob was it, made the pit in his stomach grow even large. Why was he here? Surly this case was not so sure that it required his attention. All now more than ever he hoped no matter how high profile this case was that it did not involve him.

They stayed staring at one another for several seconds before the man finally let go of his arm freeing him. The chief then looked him over once before saying "I'm sorry sir I can't let you go that way unless your related to a patient there's a crime scene that way." he told him dutifully.

The admiral had to hold in a scoff at the man before him reminding himself that the man was doing his duty like he himself would in his shoes. That however changed nothing he might have been no better than a civilian in this matter but he would not let anyone stand in his way. It may have been irrational and he knew that but he had let irrationality control him for far too long already.

"I can see there is a crime scene. I am no fool." he responded showing the building worry and anger. He also knew being angry at an officer was unwise and would not go well on his record but he was beyond caring right now as he had to make sure his son was alright. "I am here to see my son I you will not stop me" he said sounding quite threatening.

The officer took a defensive stance at the hostility in his words "Sir I am going to have to ask that you calm down or I will detain you." the officer warned. The officer stared at him for some time to let the threat sink in which seemed to work as despite the shaking in his nerves he relented "Now then "rob continued "maybe it you calm down and you tell me who your son is I might be able to get you cleared to see him." he said offering an ultimatum.

The admiral seeing the seriousness of the mans words relented taking a moment to calm himself. And not fancying having to deal with being late for a meeting later and the police decided the best course of action was too...play ball. "My sons name is alexander donnan. And my name is admiral donnan." the man answered.

Upon hearing this the chief looked at him as though he was actually seeing him for the first time. Giving him a second look with new eyes as he realized who he was talking to finally recognizing him. "Your the admiral?" he asked tentatively casing the admiral to suppress the urge to lecture the man.

"Yes I am the admiral I can pull out my id if you or even call the base if you don't believe me." he said dryly while keeping the edge from before. But thankfully the man raised his hand in defence as it was his turn to relent in kind. "No, no that's unnecessary. I remember your face now from my reports from the briefing." rob answered

This however only further compounded admiral donnan as he went over the mans words 'report? What report? Base hospital or not there is no reason to read a report or be brief about me when I was not even near this place.' he thought irritable as to whom may be trying to drag his record though the dirt like so many.

That was when something in his mind clicked making him take in a large breath of air. "Wh-where is my son?" was all his mind could relay to his lips as the words came out broken and distorted by the onset of panic.

Robs eye's softened slightly as he took his cap off ringing it a few times nervously looking slightly away from him as he did so. To be the one to have to deliver bad news to a family member was the hardest task to perform. The admiral would know he had done it enough times over the years. But this was the first time he received it like this. When his wife died he knew that something like this was bound to happen but when it involved a child the dread was unspeakable. So he felt as though his heart would stop when the words left his lips.

"Sir…...your son has been kidnapped."

 **Oh boy as marty would said "that was very heavy" though thankfully this time I can guarantee there's nothing wrong with gravity. Either way again this chapter may seem like its running round in circles its important later as it introduces another character that is important to the plot….eventually.**

 **Either way I hope you all enjoyed this little taste that I gave you and I hope to speed up the next one a bit but with my job that might be tricky. BUT! We shall see how the tower falls. Also I have a very important announcement to make regarding this story and something everyone should be aware of.**

 **This is something I want everyone who reads my story to consider for the future of this story. Now for the most part give or take a lick or two of information and maybe a rewrite to fix or make minor changes this story is basically on track the way I want it and the story is pretty much all figured out. So one thing I knew that was a possibility when I started this story was the fact that things in season 2 may change how this story would be done and anyone who has watched season two would know what I am talking about.**

 **So my question for all of you that I want you all to consider when your done reading this chapter is this. Do you want me to continue on as I am with the story they way it is and the way I have been making it without any major change. Or do you want me to remake the story to accommodate the new cannon as it were in the new season. Mind you're writing a number of things in my plot will take a crock load of time. But the fact is this story is for you the readers not me so it's what you guys want that is important.**

 **And I know I have asked this a number of times but now more than ever I want your reviews if not to tell me how much you did or did not like it but to tell me what you want me to do. Do you want me to continue with my adaptation or do you want something more faithful to season 2s story arc much less season three and maybe even beyond. But please let me know as it will greatly help my progress to know you wishes.**

 **So with all that said thanks for tuning in again and staying with me all this time or if your new for joining me. If you have questions regarding my announcement you know where to find me. And please tell me what you want to see happen I always listen to my readers thoughts and opinions. Ether way take care I hope to post again soon and I hope you have a great rest of your week. And I know its late but happy new year.**


	15. Chapter xiii debriefing

**Ok readers I would like to apologize for my huge delay and for that I am sorry. But in this time I have come to a decision on my story. Due to the fact that I sorta jumped the gun on my story and I have assumed in my canon nether the kwami or holders know about each other I am kinda stuck lest I rewrite the whole thing at the point I am right now. Which serves me right for starting it when I did but that is on me.**

 **So going forwards I will be continuing with my own version AU wear owl-cles, (that is my way of saying owl damocles) never happened and I will sorta do my own thing. Now I may mention or take elements of things that happen in season two but for all intensive purposes its an AU story that takes place in a different timeline.**

 **In other words things that happen in season 3 and on things might never happen depending on how long it takes to finish this story. But ya going forwards expect very little to do with the actual show lest it become relevant…..maybe.**

 **If anyone was hoping for a show 100% accurate season two reference. I'm sorry but I made this story a full year before season two even came out so this was bound to happen. When making this I only took into account things that happened in 1 because that was all I had so going forwards count on a lot of deviations.**

 **Also sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter than others but I have a real job that I needed to attend to the last few months and juggling work, my own book that I am writing from scratch, and my fanfiction, plus a social life is not easy so because of that things are a bit shorter this time round.**

 **P.s for those wondering I made a hand full of corrections like bolding the notes after I uploaded sorry for the confusion if there was any.**

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

"Drip-drip-drip

The sound of a slow trickle of water made as it fell to the cold concrete floor below in small puddles. In a room lined with brick and mortar that also leaked water from the heightened amount from the recent snow. Low hanging lights hung from the already low ceiling leaving little room for those of tall stature to maneuver. The room was small only twenty by twenty leaving only enough room for a few people to comfortable occupy in the claustrophobic windowless room.

Standing with in this room wear two figures in dressed in a simple one piece black dress, with black hair, with matching leggings gloves hat and glasses with only a black and silver swan pin with red eyes being the only form of color in her dress. The only way to tell this woman was even alive was the her standing form holding a tablet out. But with her deathly pale skin should she stand still one would mistake her as a ornate doll.

The other occupant was far more striking being covered in sleek and advanced metal armor. His entire form looked aerodynamic and yet somewhat edgy as well. Pulsing lights and ribbons of colored led ribbon criss crossed in the gaps in his form. But most striking of all was the big red eye upon the left side of his face.

These two wear black swan and blitzkrieg hawkmoths two akuma fighters both deadly and dangerous in there own right as they wear ready to serve their master. As they stood facing each other black swan explained all that had transpired since his absences. But most importantly everything she had on ladybug and cat noir as per hawkmoths request.

Blitzkrieg listened to everything she said intently crossing one arm with his right elbow in his left palm as he rested his chin in his hand. While he was silent he took careful note of every word she said paying very close attention to details like their powers and personality. There traits, there known weaknesses, the overall limits of there power, everything.

The only bit that was dissatisfying though was the extreme lack of information on cat noir and his powers. And while he was assured several times that he will be of no consequence when it came time. He was less sure. After all one does not count on victory for to do so is when victory will fail you. Even if cat noir came around to there case in the end he was for all intensive purposes an enemy of their master and must be handled as such. Lest they let their guard down.

But regardless of his own opinions he listened quietly till black swan was done with her briefing. The porcelain girl watched the boy turned cyborg as he continued to stand quietly in place. She watched him for several moment before deciding it best to speak. "So to sum everything up you have missed out on quit a lot. But you need not worry on anything else in the world as I have downloaded all the most important information for you in a compact drive." she said finishing off her info by taking out a flash drive from a secret pocket.

It was then the statue of a young man moved for the first time during their entire conversation. He looked down at the drive, his mechanical eye narrowing as it zoomed in on it. Then he lowered his hand from his chin before grasping the device from black swans hand. Then much to black swans surprise a compartment opened up on blitzkriegs right arm. The black clad man then put the drive into the compartment before it closed itself.

Blitzkrieg then stood still for a moment as if frozen prompting black swan to raise a hand wondering if something was wrong. Then he jolted into a straight posture position as his red eye turned ice blue.

Black swan then took a step back as she watch in trepidation as blitzkriegs head moved about twitching side to side. The motions made it look as if he wear seeing things all around him that wear not truly there. Blitzkrieg then raised his arms slightly and moved his fingers as if typing on an invisible keypad.

Growing concerned black swan was about to try and contact hawk moth to ask his what she should do when blitzkrieg spoke in the his trifling mechanical voice. "Download complete" His cold voice rang out as his eye turned back to red sending a shiver down black swans spine.

Even though black swan now lived in a cloud of depression day in and day out since becoming black swan the akuma before her made her feel emotion she had not felt in ages. Fear being one of the biggest right now. His mechanical voice sounding ever so synthesized while at the same time sounding broken like he was talking through the air gap of a respirator. But then again he had needed one before he accepted gabriel proposal so it was likely that he still needed one even with the magic.

Forcing a fake smile to hide her fear from him as she regained her posture "g-good. I take it the information was useful." she stated but unable to hold in a slight stutter. But she could not help it as even in her cold heart fear seemed to still linger in her as she gazed upon his form.

Blitzkrieg looked back towards black swan again after hearing her statement he then remained frozen in an all too mechanical fashion. It was as if he had become a machine or he was just acting like a terminator because it humored him. Which ever it was it was truly unnerving. But after a few moment of this he spoke "I have." he answered. "The information will prove useful in the coming days, I have much catching up to do and this information will give me a head start." he stated in cool fashion.

He spoke true the information would be useful but… "I will require access to a larger database before long. I will also need footage and to observe the one know as lady bug and cat noir before we can engaged." he said adding on to his previous statement. While black swan seemed to not react at all to his statement regarding data, she bore a look of surprise when he mentioned his plan for the heros.

"Would it not be better to engage them as soon as possible? after all are master is waiting on us to complete his work." she asked in genuine concern. But not only that but she longed for the day that adrian would be with her, and for the day that her mother would be back. It was the only thing keeping her going now was the thought of the warm arms of her mother embracing her.

However blitzkrieg seemed less than concerned with her statement turning away to face away from her. "To know yourself but not your enemy for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. To know neither yourself or your enemy you will succumb in every battle. Only by knowing oneself and the enemy will you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." he said in a powerful commanding tone that was condescending speaking above her with superiority.

He was saying this not to encourage her but to remind her that she was the subordinate to him just as much as they both where to hawk moth. She knew this tone well as it was the same she had taken when she used to treat the staff of her father's hotel so cruelly, much less anyone else around her.

He then turned her head a bit to see her over his shoulder. "These are the words of sun tzu. The greatest of all tacticians, so much so that his methods are still being practiced today." he stated proudly before gaining a somewhat distant look despite his mask. this look stayed for several moments before he began speaking.

"To attack blindly without proper plain as hawkmoth had done in his first set of raids was a mistake that shall not be repeated. We will be in control and wise, only once we know are enemy as well as we know are selves and are own powers will we strike. Once we have have mastered ourselves and exploited the weaknesses in are enemy will we move. Only then when victory is assured will we move to claim it. We will hide, plain, scheme, faint, retreat, and evade our enemy till they are weak from the chase. Then and only then will we commence are coup de grace, are mercy kill. For then are enemy will be beaten and broken without us having to face them directly. It is precisely why are master left me in charge of our operations from this point forwards."

Black swan listened intently to his speech, she intely felt a flash of anger for insulting there master as he did, but she said nothing. She did not dare speak out against him for he even just with his words was far more powerful then herself. His words left no argument in there wake they left only a stinging insult for misjudgment and superiority in wisdom. For that matter she began to worry that he might try a double cross the way he spoke. But that was dashed beings hawk moth could just as easily take away his power.

In the end she spoke nothing of the subject instead nodded her head in recognition witch he noted. The only thing on her tongue now was the desire to know what would happen next. "If we are not going to attack then what are we doing?" she asked starting to grow impatient despite the fog in her mind.

At this the cyborgs eye closed to a dot and he stepped forwards quickly making her back up till her back hit the wall. But blitzkrieg ignored her discomfort as he approached till he was mere inches away from her. Black swan could feel fear grip her heart as her pulse increased. She almost let out a gasp of fright when felt one of his ice cold metal hands touch her gripping her chin.

She looked up at the akuma fearful for what he would do wondering what she did to make him upset. He was quite for several moments letting the weight of what he was doing hit her before speaking. "If we are not going to attack then what are we doing. What?" he said coldly.

Black swan however was unsure however not understanding what he was getting at. As all he did was repeat what she had said with an extra what at the end. And that was when it hit her. "What's are next move...sir." she said saying sir hesitantly.

Blitzkrieg nodded then after a few moments let go of her before walking away, "I am glad we are starting to see where we stand with one another. I was recruited for the role of commander and second to our master. So I expect respect from those at a lower rank." as he said this he looked over his shoulder towards her again.

In that moment she felt ever so small and insignificant in comparison to blitzcrieg. When she was younger and a brat she always thought she had command and that she was incontrol. How wrong was she as compared to that this man before her was a god by comparison. He had control and knew it, he could gain control just by being in the room without saying a word that was true control. The only time she had anything close was when she made threats and yelled at others. This man needed no threat for he was one having an aura of respect that screamed with power. He did not need to flex his abilities or speak. as just his mere presence spoke volumes for him with having to do anything.

Unable to move now as when she tried to take a step she nearly fell having to use the wall to support herself. With this and her insignificance was read just to fall on the floor having lost her will to continue. So instead of holding herself simply closed her eyes and let her position slip so to let herself fall to the ground.

But befor her face hit the ground she felt an arm grab shoulder before a second went underneath her waist before she felt herself being picked up.

Opening a an eye to take a tentative glance as to what was happening only to see much to her surprise it was blitzkrieg. Looking down at her form red disc eye wide with what she might call concern as he held her bridle style.

Her mouth then opened to speak but no words came out of her as she simple laid there in his arms. An unfamiliar feeling came into her chest but she could not place it, maybe embarrassment? She did not have time to ponder it as blitz began to move her to a cot that was on the side of the room. The same one he used the night before when she brought him to this old abandoned air raid shelter from world war two.

He laid her down gently as he could before placing the blanket on top of her making sure she was comfortable. "Rest now. You have foregone sleep for the past several days, you will be more capable later. But for now rest." she resisted at first trying to get up insisting she had a job to attend to. But blitzkrieg would not have it as he forced her to lay down and stay there. Than once he was sure she would not leave he got up to leave himself.

As she watched him walk away to do whatever he planned on doing she could not help but ask "why?". This made him stop in step and turn sideways to face her. She had no idea why she said that and did not even realise she said it out loud till he moved to face her. But right now she wanted to know why the same person who only minutes about was treating her like a lowly underling was being so nice to her right now.

She watched as blitzkrieg stared at her for a time once again he place a hand under his chin in thought. He stayed like this for some time as she waited she began to realize how tired she was becoming and had to force herself awake. She knew she was tired from all the time gathering information and getting no sleep the night before. But she refused to sleep till she had her answer.

Then as she started to feel herself slip towards sleep he lowered his hand and answered "a commander must regard these soldiers as there children and they will follow you into the deepest valley. Look upon them as your own beloved sons and daughters and they will stand by you even onto death…."

His answer confused her greatly she knew he was likely quoting something again possibly that sun person who he mentioned. However she did not see how that was supposed to help answer her question.

Thankfully for black swan she did not have to wait long for her answer was blitzkrige was very forthcoming. "I expect only respect from my subordinates. However do not think that this is not without reward. For so long as you respect the leadership and prove yourself then you will receive the respect of the others in your unit.

"And while our unit consists of only two for now know this while I demand respect know that I will be more than forthcoming with respect once it has been earned. So do not think you self disposable as for are mission to be successful we must work as a unit. You would not be hear if you wear not of use to are master. Nore would I have someone enlist lest they are ready for it. You are both and with your abilities we will win this war."

While this explanation was far from comforting black swan felt the oppressive vail of depression lift, if ever so slightly. 'Perhaps working with him will not be so bad after all' she mussed wondering what he had in mind for the future. "Yes sir." she found herself saying for seemingly no reason.

Blitzkrieg took this as a good sign of not only obedience in the ranks regardless of how few there wear, but also for the sake of the mission as they would require high levels of coordination if they planned to defeat their masters enemy's. "Good. now rest for we will need it for the mission ahead." he stated calmly as he headed for the door to the bunder.

"Wear are you going." black swan asked through a yawn barely able to keep her eyes open now as her body became more relaxed ready for sleep. Blitzkrieg this time though did not stop instead continued towards the door stopping when he stood in front of it. "I have to train and acclimate myself to my new found….abilities." he asked as he opened the door.

"Once you have rested begin the search for another member to add to are ranks. When I return I will sift through the data you have compiled for a list of worth candidates. After that we will pick are new brethren from there. I will be back in a few day's or weeks. Until then you are at ease to rest and recover your strength and study." he said before closing the door behind him.

Black swan stared at the door for a few moments longer as she pondered the new akuma. He was far different than any other akuma she had ever seen. He was calm, collected, and in complete control of himself and his emotions….provided he had any. But unlike all the ones before herself included he seemed to have no desire to achieve his goals. While she was sure he had something he wanted from hawkmoth in exchange for his service, the fact was he did not seem to be in any hurry to get them. Wear as she on the other hand would have immediately kidnapped adrian had gabriel not told her she couldn't.

This man blitzkrieg was clearly a new breed of akuma, they both wear. Not only more powerful than any other before but unlike the others they had more control and atomacy then the ones from before. She only wondered what the four others akuma would be like when they found them.

In the end though she decided sleep would be good for her as she had been getting so little. And while there wear things she needed to get done in the end those tasks would still be there when she woke up. Pluse with blitzkrieg helping her now she might be able to get work done in less than half the time. Especially considering the I/Q he had.

So black swan/ chloe closed her eyes and let sleep take her, so that she would be free from her depression if only for a while. At least this time she might be able to sleep soundly now that the plain was under way.

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Outside the bunker blitzkrieg stood in a old train tunnel underneath paris. He was lead to this room by black swan night before after escaping from the hospital. The tunnel was still in use by the subway and the bunker from the war was simply sealed off and forgotten. This made it a perfect place to hide without being discovered.

That however was not his concern as right now he needed to fully understand the limits of his powers. He needed practice, weapons, and he needed to experiment to find out what his powers could do in there fullest. And he knew just wear he could practice to his heart's content without getting caught.

It would be perfect a place that he could fight against real opponents and have no one be the wiser. Take large caches of weapons for his own to use and train with, to test out his powers in live fire senorios without his conflicts being discovered as anything more then random acts of violence. And he could even take tried in eliminating those that would eventually try to get in his masters way or try to weelse out of their just due punishment. A win, win.

Thinking about this trip honestly made him feel eager to test himself. After all this would be his first time doing anything in years. So despite this being a work related trip he would make sure it would be very productive. This though made him wonder about other matters and people who he had not seen in a while. "I wonder how my brother is doing overseas? He did not make it this year for a visit. Perhaps I should pay him and his uint a visit." he mused to himself.

Ok that was interesting. Alright I know what some of you are thinking "arua why is this so short what the heck are you losing your touch?" well no I'm not and I am thinking. See Ive been out of circulation on this story for a while so this shorter chapter is a good way to get back into the swing of things.

Also I needed to better establish blitze's character and this chapter is what that was for and adding a whole bunch of other stuff would make it feel disconnected. Also with this chapter being a bit shorter it means that the next one will be started sooner and maybe finished sooner to.

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 **As for other things I have based a lot of my new akuma's persona off of grand admiral thrawn. Which is one reason I am glad I wanted to post as I was able to see the rebels finlay and that gave me some ideas when it came to the use of this character as a leader. Also I don't remember if I mentioned this but Alexander has read the art of war witch is wear most of his quotes are coming from at the moment. As for the future he will make more quotes in the future how many is debatable but he will its part of his akuma persona. That persona being a stark contrast to chole as he is a cold and calm critical leader. He is the perfect leader and second in command as such he needs to talk the talk and walk the walk.**

 **Finally as for future plains I will try to get the next chapter out sooner rather than later but I don't know how that will happen. But as seen by this chapter it will continue I have not abandoned you. As for other things the plot is proceeding as I had envisioned with some small changes but you would never notice these changes.**

 **Anyway that is all I got for you today it has been a pleasure as always and I hope to see you all again in literary form as its writing. But anyway the next chapter will be out as soon as I can and I hope to have you all back again and again as the story progresses. Take care and enjoy. and please review I love hearing the comments.**


	16. Chapter xiv Reveal

**Holy moly this was a long one. Far longer than I thought it was going to be, I was guessing twenty pages-ish but still this is a lot. But I think you fans deserve it for the long wait between updates.**

 **Hello all once again I bring you another chapter in the story of gabriel's second war on ladybug and cat noir. I do truly hope that you all enjoy it as I think this one turned out quite well. And why you may ask I am using such words...I have no idea.**

 **Any way I hope the wait was not too painful for those who have been waiting the months in between updates. I will try my best to make sure that I update far sooner and not take as long of a hiatus next time if I need to take one. But given how I needed to spend more time on my family matters and my own book that was unavoidable.**

 **Either way like I said before I am going completely off cannon in this chapter and the ones to follow. While I can not say much without accidently giving anything away I can say the plot is starting to pick up and for those who want more action you will get it soon enough. Infact action was what I had in mind when designing blitzkrieg so once he hits the fields you'll see some real action. And soon.**

 **Also I wrote the author's notes last at like midnight one a.m or something so if they sound somewhat without point I was dead tired when I finished this chapter. So if you all see any mistakes in the story part itself let me know and I will fix them immediately. But I was not going to let it not be posted another day say I finished it forgoing sleep for you my viewers. I will likely regret it later but it's worth it in the end so long as you enjoy it.**

 **Well anyway you have heard me ramble and if you know me by now I don't like to keep my readers bogged down with pointless babble so I will finish up. Please enjoy and if you want fav or follow. And please review as this helps me out greatly when people who read my story review it.**

 **Any that is all I have so please enjoy the story**

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it was an ordinary day in november soon to be december in the wonderous city of paris.

clouds covered the sky a as snow fell from the sky like lazy seeds from a cotton tree. Over all it was not a terrible day so long as you did not plain of going anywhere in the cold air, while true it was beautiful. Unfortunately for one blue bell they wear too preoccupied to enjoy it

Standing inside the living room over her parents home above the bakery marinette was in an entrance phone call with her bff alya. She was not having a good time of it either having to try and convince the girl on the other side of the phone to let up. As she stood there in a double black on black pants and long sleeve. It was not her usual color but given how she had to lone a few things to adrian till they got him more cloths that fit. As there frames wear close combined with his still gaunt and malnourished form. this meant that her non gendered clothes fit well enough for temporary sake. Combine this with needing laundry done and this left her in quite a state.

And this state was only aggravated by alya who had been trying to insist that she go out with her that night for the past twenty minutes. "Alya I know you want me to come but I can't. I mean I would love to go to that concert but I have to watch adrien." she tried to say as calmly as possible

Alya in true alya fashion was not one to back down easily though "OH come on girl surely they can take care of themselves for a little while besides the concert doesn't start till eight it will be fine. I mean your parents close up at five any way so what's the deal. Come on you need to live a little and get out once and awhile." alya said in forceful yet friendly way.

It was what alya usually did when she wanted her to do something like going out or doing anything really. She was never so forceful though to demand she do what the redhead wanted but at the same time she did her best. To completely fair it was no wonder she had made such a killing in the information business like she did.

But that still did not change anything, "alya unlike you I still have things to do here I have to do laundry, get at least a half dozen scarfs made, and take care of adrian, by the end of today. Not to mention I am still in the dog house with ma'ma" marinette said over the phone reminding the girl about the things she had to do.

It was no secret that marinette was sort of on the bad side of her parents at the moment, not so much to be punished or anything. After all she was trying to give adrian a reality check that he needed help and need people in his life again or he would only kill himself. But that also did not mean she was let off ether as her ma'ma was quite furious with her to the point she was using chinese on her ma'ma only did that when she was mad. And she had to endure well over an hour long lecture to back up the fact that while she was trying to do good she did it in poor taste.

Predictably though alya was unfazed as she let out a short laugh before saying "and whose fault is that girl."making marinette wince at the burn that alya unleashed. But she was not wrong and could not fault her for her bluntness. In any other situation marinette would have complained at such a remark but to be honest she had regretted slapping adrian for a long time after.

And while she did fully apologise saying she did wrong by him. She was also glad that he forgave her, And much to her surprise thanked her for doing it as in his own words "I need to stop pretending that only my feelings matter and remember that I can't do things alone. Even if I was trying to protect you if someone found me and got it out of me that I was staying with you who know what would happen". Granted he had to write it out as best he could because he was still having trouble speak but this did make her feel a bit better.

While she also felt bad she was glad that adrien was finally starting to respond to them. And while she knew eventually he would likely want to move out and go his own way she was thankful he was finally willing to accept help. Something that he rarely did even when they went to school together.

But that aside it changed nothing about her current situation with the persistent devil of knowledge. Namely alya.

Sighing heavily as she was starting to develop a headache from what was going to be a long day now decided it was finally time to end it. "Alya as much as do really want to go I have to stay here. Ma'ma and pa'pa have to work today in the bakery and then go to do a private part later tonight and someone has to watch adrian." she told alya for the tenth time.

"I also have to be ready to help him as he has finally gained enough strength to walk, but even then he still needs help to stand on his own." she said adding on the last bit of news. The other day adrian had finally been freed from the confines of his bed and started walking around.

The only problem was that someone had to be there because he was not strong enough to walk on his own. But her mother insisted that they let him walk as he needed to gain back some autonomy if he was to recover not just in body but in mind. If he was to become even half the person that he was he was going to need to believe that he was capable of doing things. And while he needed help right now her ma'ma insisted that he would still feel a sense of accomplishment after over three weeks laying in bed.

And marinette could not deny her ma'ma's claims as while adrian's face was still somewhat absent of her likely do to him not wanting to burden them. But she could also see the determination on his face as well as the the relief and joy he felt when he reached his destination. This sight alone was worth all the waiting she and her parents had done to try and give back some of his freedom.

So in the end as much as she loved watching a jagged stone concert adrian was far more important. Besides she did sort of owe him for slapping him and gilting him the way she did even if she did not mean to. At least not on purpose. After all dealing with you friend basically reappeared half dead right at your feet then having them run away would make most people emotional.

"Come on girl adrian is not an invalid and he is not stupid surely he will be fine for an three hours. Besides having to put up with you all day is likely driving him crazy." alya said mockingly through the phone making marinette grown.

Now alya was not even trying to convince her to go she was just doing whatever she could to tease her. She was good at that whenever she knew marinette would back out of something she was invited to she would just poke fun at her for the mess. Though even marinette had to admit she might be right on the driving adrian nuts part. But adrian couldn't even stand on his own so leaving him was a bad Idea regardless.

But instead of giving anymore material for alya to come at her with which would only wind her up more she stayed quite. Her silence was very telling to as after about half a minute of saying nothing she could hear alya let out a a defeated grown. "Ok not funny I get it. Still you can't watch him all day he will find that creepy after a while and I don't care how nice he is." alya said admitting defeat before adding just one more honest jab.

"I know alya...I know." marinette confessed, boy did she know. Ever since adrian came back she had been revisiting the boyhood crush she had on him. She knew it was stupid and honestly prio to adrian returning she was mostly over him. While true she did still think about him and sometimes wondered what might have been. But in the end she decided that in the end all she could do with no clue as to his whereabouts and no information to go on. She was forced to accept that any relationship would not work between them and had to walk away.

Then when she found him in that ally it was adrian love song all over again with her revisiting all of her old feelings for him after he was put in bed. And over the past few weeks she became quit conflicted. After all she was living under the same roof as him now for the foreseeable future. So it was hard not to think about him. But in the end she knew she had to let him go as much as it hurt, she had thought she knew that already

However this this train on thought when she heard a large amount of coughing from upstairs. "What was that?" alya asked sounding surprised "are you alright?". Marinette could honestly not fault the question as it probably sounded pretty bad over the phone. "Yes I am fine alya, it just sounds like adrian finally woke up. I need to go now and check on him and do some work today. So I will talk to you later." she told the girl on the phone.

Alya gave an overly dramatic sigh casing a small laugh to pass through marinette lips at her friends antics. "Alright girl take care. And if you change your mind about the concert tonight let me know." she said simply. Marinette could not help but smile slightly at alya was while the girl had her moments she was a good and thoughtful person.

"Also make sure to take care of your boyfriend and try not to take advantage of him. Alright girl." she took it back alya was the worst person in paris second to gabriel. "ALYA!" she shouted embarrassed as redness flushed to her face in an embarrassing display of humiliation. But she would be getting no alleviation as a laughing cackling alya hung up the phone leaving her looking that she just got prayer by one of nathanials air brushes.

Marinette now standing in the living room just stood like a fool as she looked down at the phone in her hand half tempted to throw into across the room. But sighing in defeat she just set the acrussed torture device down on the table trying desperately to think of a way to get rid of the redness in her cheeks.

"Some days I want to strangle her." marinette confessed out loud shaking her head in defeat as her mind went back to adrian. While the coughing stopped she still need to check on him to make sure he was alright. And while they wear trying to let him gain back autonomy someone still had to make sure he did not hurt himself. So strangling alya would have to wait for later as she had more important things to do.

Before she could leave to check on him however her attention was taken by a news article on the T.V. turning her head to the set on the wall she half wondered why she did not already turn it off after her pa'pa accidentally left it on when he was checking the weather.

Now though the weather was gone and instead replaced by a news report of kidnapping. "In the latest news in the kidnapping case of the son of admiral donnan we go live to the scene of the crime" the news anchor reported as the camera switched from a studio to outside of the navel hospital.

It looked cold and windy outside the hospital as a mon in a black jacket was waiting to take his cue outside the front doors of the hospital. "Yes we are here outside the hospital wear the vicem alexander donnan was taken about two days ago. The man said flashing an image of a boy with sandy blonde brown hair and brown eyes with freckles on screen.

A twinge of familiarity came to marinette as while not a striking resemblance in even the greatest stretch of the imagination. It was still the thought that squeezed marinette's heart as the boy on screed did remind her of adrian. And how adrian went missing those years ago.

But this was quickly forgotten as the man continued to speak and she listened to the report. "Right now there has been no report of a ransom or any demands for the victims family. Currently the admiral is under investigation say's the police right now to see if there is any connection between him and anyone who may wish to do however the police say that he is in full cooperation with the authorities but the result of their investigation is still pending.

As for the admirals other son he is apparently deployed and has yet to be contacted due to deteriorating conditions on the base he was station at making communications impossible from bad weather. Furthermore the- " but the man never got a chance to finish as the T.V was shut off by marinette who had taken the remot.

She stared at the now black screen with sadness in her eyes at what she had just seen, thinking about her own parents and how they would react if she went missing. And she thought of adrian wondering if the pain of having a child go missing was more than one of your old friends, or was it the same. Of this she was not sure and to be honest if the pain was greater for close family she dreaded what they wear going through.

Some herself included might ask wear ladybug was in times like this, was she not supposed to help people who needed it. Unfortunately though the reality of the situation was unfortunately more problematic than that.

After hawkmoth was finally downed she did do her best for a time to stop crime wear it happened. Partly because she wanted to help and partly because she needed something to take her mind off adrian going this cased her grades to slip again, her teachers and friends getting mad at her, and her parents getting on her case.

Thankful for her sake after a while most people seemed to think she was having trouble dealing with adrian going missing, as not only was she good friends with him but it was no secret she had a crush. So she was sent to counseling with the color at school and for the most part let off once she got her grades up again. And while she was thankful for this not being grounded again was ever so nice she also did not like people seeing her that way.

That however was light compared to ladybug though as she was asked to talk with rogers bosses boss the commissioner of paris. Thankfully though she would not be arrested witch was what she was afraid would happen. But rather it was about the amount of things she did. The commissioner wanted her to ease up on helping, not stopping but easing up.

Obviously she questioned the sensibility of this but when he explained that the officers wear starting to become complacent and lazy. Thinking that ladybug would always save the day for them. Combine this with the request to transfer into paris so that officers could in there mind get paid to not work because of ladybug and cat noir.

And the fact that the amount of people calling emergency services was going down in favor of posting on the lady blog. It made scenes and after he showed her that the number of deaths was going up because people wear calling her, one girl over the fire department or E.M.T's was increasing it painted a pretty clear picture.

She as ladybug needed to back off.

Unfortunately the reality of the situation was that she was becoming a bigger hero then the heroes the city really needed now. Tikki had warned her about this happening if she was not careful and even told her she had to choose her fights wisely. She could not help everyone not should she try as she was only one person and could not be in more than one place at a time.

So after much discussion she and the commissioner came to an agreement, she would be called in and have full authority on magic related crimes should they show up. So event like hawk moth would be her weight to bare. But should she find someone in need of help say she stumbles on a building on fire she was permitted to help.

But on any other case unless she catches someone in the act she was to let the police or any other crew called in handle it. Unless she was specifically called into help she was to let the police, fire department, or any other crew do there job unless they asked for her help.

The only catch to this though was that she was take a number of emergency courses on procedures, tests on police, and other emergency crew code and expected to memorize it, and a number of other codes regulations and other things. And while she was not expected to know absolutely everything to a T as that would be unfair, but she was expected to know and pass her test that she now had to take once every year to be continued to be allowed to be ladybug by the government.

It was annoying to say nothing else but it was worth it as in the end she made a deal that would let other ladybugs and maybe cat noirs in the future be able to continue to help people without getting into trouble. True she would rather not take a week out of her life once a year to take a test and an examination but in the end it was better than the alternative.

But in situations like this wear she was seeing a family being attacked like this all over the news and not being able to do anything about it really hurt. But commissioner roger had not asked her to help. and while she did let him know about her new power as per another of the stipulations to her deal with the government. In the end he said they should be able to handle it and that they would call her if something came up.

It was frustrating to have power yet be unable to use it, but she had no choice. And even if she could help the fact was there was possibly a thousand other people in just as bad a shape or worse out there. Meaning for everyone solved there were ten more to take their places.

Sighing in defeat decided to check and see if roger changed his mind later after she checked on adrian and finally got some laundry in the wash. So making her way up the stairs to her room she just hoped that whoever the boy was that he was ok.

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Else wear in the world (i'll let you guy figure out where he is in your own minds eye.

Blitzkrieg would have been in a good mood if it were possible for him to have moods in this state. He had gotten out of paris and into this forsaken place in the world in less the three days without anyone being even the least bit the wiser.

Not only did absolutely no one see him but getting onto a plane and cargo carrier to this place was so easy. It was as if there was nobody doing their job and checking security properly. Though if he wear to be fair he did technically do some hacking to disable camra's and things so it was not completely fair to dis the security.

That was beside the point though as he walked in the airied night with the moon high overhead. Apparently there was a bad storm that had been in the area till just a few hours after he had arrived by plane but now it was gone. While he had no idea about that as he had rested till nightfall so it really did not bother him.

What was bothering him though was the fact that the map he downloaded was incorrect as he had already passed three incorrect landmarks in the past hour. Perhaps the storm was so bad it messed up the terrain or maybe the maybe needed calibrating case it was not proper when he downloaded it. Regardless it was all but useless to him as he shut the map inside his head off.

So instead switching on the G.P.S locator he had installed on the way here he began to track his target again to make sure he was going the right way to the randevu point. Given the nature of his target randevu might have been a bit of a stretch. but he cared little as in the end the word mattler even less as the point was the same he was meeting someone tonight and he just needed to find the spot.

He then paused when he seen a blip on in his vision turning around and raising a gun he had gotten towards the blip. His eye flashed to green from red going to night vision mode as he eyed the target behind him. But lowered his weapon just as quickly when he saw what was. It was just an dog having a go on carian that the birds left to rot.

He stared at the animal for a moment who had noticed him before turn around and returning on his way. He had no time for dogs or dead animals, he was on a mission, two missions to be more accurate.

But those missions were not important compared to the overall reason why he was here in the first place. He was there to learn, and the objectives wear merely bonuses to help in his overall agenda in this foreign country. He was there to train, to learn, and to figure out what he was capable of. That was his primary objective.

Speaking of he had already figured out what his abilities are and made several wonderful modifications. His power allowed him to integrate any machine or weapon to his teachical benefit.

With these powers he could turn any electronic, weapon, vehicle or machine in general into another part of his body. Making him stronger faster and more deadly depending only on what he had around him. The only real downside was that he could only do with with primarily metallic objects. So while he could use glass, sylics and plastics just to name a few he still needed primarily metal for his powers to work.

But these powers wear so useful and would be used to great benefit of his master. He had already made several modifications that had already been put to use to great success. and he was only getting started as with more practice and more modifications he would be near unstoppable to anyone who dare impede his master. Not to say he could not be stopped but it would be an uphill fight.

The first of his modifications being his sight having adapte it to be able to see in low light environments, infrared, ultraviolet, long range targeting, thermal imagery, and several others just to name a few. Granted he had to steal a lot of equipment from a military base he had made a stop at on his way. But once master gabriel's reign begins they would understand.

His favorite upgrade so far though was his H.U.D display as he had taken some radar systems modified it to be small and made a device that would tell him in real time wear any moving object was with in fifty feet at all times. And to make sneaking around even more he also added small compact cameras to his armour to make it to wear he had a 3608* view of his surroundings. The only catch was that he could only use special vision types with his left cybernetic eye.

This was a small price to pull back the usefulness of it all but it still gave him a complete field of view with no blind spots save for directly above him. Meaning the only way to sneak up on him was is to already be literally on top of him and jump down. And last time he check army's did not employ kangaroos or pogo sticks in there ranks.

The most noticeable change though was to his armour the black begin gone and replaced by a brown and tan camo. His armour was now a lot more rugged and bulky but that was fine given what was out in this desert heavy armour would not go amiss. But also he was armed now.

he currently had a large rifle equipped to his shoulder on a mount he had made with several guns being literally being built into his arms and legs. He had several grenades and other such devices. A few combat knives and a few other things he could carry.

How did he get such armour and weapons in his size one might wonder well that was easy he made it using his powers, but getting them was far more interesting. After he had arrived and stollen some sensory equipment from the base his plane landed in he went out on his first mission.

After a few hours he ran into some of the local trouble makers and there trucks that wear stolen from some poor convoy they attacked no doubt. They of course surrounded him and threatened to kill him if he did not cooperate. But what they did not know was that it was them who was in trouble.

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Flash back

Looking around his spot in the muddy ground that would soon turn back into desert once the sun came out as he stared down about a fifteen armed men. While to most they would be seen as a larger threat blitzkrieg knew better. They wear thugs, well armed ones but thugs wear thugs as they had no skill without there toy's.

'Three trucks, one mounted turret, one shot gun, five with pistols, one with a rocket launcher, and the rest with assault rifles. Ouch.' blitzkrieg thought as he listed off there numbers in his mind and formed a strategy to deal with them. He only had his basic armour and while it could handle fire he did not want to test the upper limits if he did not have to.

He had no gun on hand and only some knives he took from a few thugs in paris before leaving when they tried to rob him. Other then that he had the tech he did take from the base and a trenching shovel. Not a loadout he would like to have in this situation, furthermore there was no cover….well not cover for him to use anyway.

They wear spread out to the three trucks being about eight feet apart from one another and about ten feet from him. With the men forming a horseshoe around the vehicles with the rocket wielder and about three assault gunners hiding behind them guns pointed towards him. Only the rocket wielder was not armed which made scenes rockets wear hard to find so he only had it out to look scary and as a just in case weapon.

'I will need to make the first attack and blitz them' he moused in planning. He needed to plan his attack well or he would be through. ' I need to take them by surprise and not give them to call out maneuvers. By taking them by surprise and slaying there fellow it should give me anywhere from five to ten seconds to take out as many as I can.' planed out.

Looking at the group who seemed uneasy about him as they talked amongst themselves without direction. 'Clearly they are without leader or they would have either attacked or detain me already. 'Hump' simple grunts with no leader. It just means more time for me to think.' he mused as he planned his attack.

He had only his bare hands so he would need to use their weapons against them. 'After I take the first one out I should be able to quickly take out four more in short order provided they stay in shock and no one here is brave.'. It was simply humans took around three to ten seconds to react to something incredibly shocking. In short he had that long to be able to slay as many as he could.

'I will need to focus on taking down the rocket holder first.' her surmised as he looked at the weapon with trepidation. 'He will be the most troublesome. If I attack the group and they see my power they will use it on me and in this form I will parish. He will be the first.'

'After that…" he thought as he looked over the group again. 'the the turret needs to go .50 cal rounds if he had to guess and that would shred his armour like butter.' the turret was an obvious choice to go next as not only was it a danger to him but also the rocket user was staying close to the turret on the truck meaning easy pickings. 'He will be second to go. After that…'

However he had no time as one of the hand gun holder approached him with a high air of arrogance. 'Fool… those who fail to master themselves fail to achieve anything but death.' he mused as the smiling fool said something in there langhe. Blitzkrieg had no idea what he said nor did he care as it was likely him just boasting how that just caught easy pray. 'Unlucky him.'

Just as the man pointed the hand held weapon at him he let out a strangled cry making every other man jump in surprise. The man would only look down to see blitzkriegs hand around his neck. But even then he would see nothing again after a loud snap could be heard.

It was time.

As the man fell blitz krige quickly nabed the weapon he dropped before it fell to the ground.

Two seconds.

The men wear still frozen in place and that was fine for blitzkrieg as he let out two shots towards the man with the rocket.

And before anyone save the akuma could register the rocketire went down with two of his vitels hit square in the head and chest.

Four seconds.

A few of the man began to realize what was going on and made the movement to raise their weapons. But it was already to late as he raised the gun and in quick order pulled off four more shots towards the gunner and the shotgun holder.

Six seconds.

Now all the men wear moving and opening fire on him with there weapons not realizing they wear simply wasting ammo. And in no time flat blitzkrieg fired the remaining five shots in his clip into the heads of five more of the asalents. Lowering the total number of opposition to seven

Twelve seconds.

The clips of his foes ran out and they needed to reload now because they had wasted there amo so foolishly. And while his armour was damaged it was nothing he could not hold up to. So dropping the empty handgun he rushed forwards drawing a basic switch blade that he took from a thug in paris.

Fourteen seconds.

Another man who saw this took out his own knife and charged him letting out a battle cry at him forgoing his gun. His last mistake however as in one strike the knife was in the man and his free hand grabbing the side arm the fool had.

Twenty seconds.

As the man fell lifeless to the ground he raised his seconds taken weapon and fired using his eye to increase his aim by predicting wear the gun was pointing just like a video game. In no time he feld thee more. Leaving only two left.

Thirty seconds.

His attention was drawn by the sound of wheels moving as the lead truck tried to speed away with the remaining two men who he missed trying to get inside.

Thirty three seconds.

Seeing this and knowing he could not leave any witness to his deed tonight for the safety of his master he rushed forwards and leapt over the hood of the van with the turret. Getting behind the vehicle he grabbed the rocket launcher that the man from before dropped.

Thirty nine seconds.

Pulling the safety and lining up his shot was easy as he readyed the weapon to fire.

Forty two seconds.

Taking careful aim he gently squeezed the trigger and "WHOOOSH!" the rocket sped off in the direction of the truck. And in less then a four seconds it closed the distance on the fleeing vehicle before….BOOM!

One minute Fifty eight seconds.

It was done in less then one minute it was done. All witnesses wear removed and no living trace was left. Using his eye to track heat he found none of the heat targets to be moving and after through sech they wear all gone.

He had done it, in less then a minute he had essetaly unarmed taken out fifteen armed….scratch that seventeen armed men with no effort counting the two who stayed in the run away truck. This was exactly why he needed to do this trip in the first place to test his abilities and prove his worthiness to his master.

Also if he was able to take on and down fif-no seventeen people in next to no time on his first try unarmed save for a knife with no training….well he was emotionless now but that did not mean he was not curious as to what he could do with more training under his belt and weapons as well.

'Things have gotten very interesting.' he mused silently as he began to esses the left overs of the fight he just had for things he could use in the coming days.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

End of flashback

In the end the fight ended almost as quickly as it started with him being the only one left standing. After this he used his powers again this time more thoroughly as he wanted to know what he was capable of. Not only that he wanted to know how flexible his powers wear. After all no point in keeping your strategy rigged, one must be fluid on the field of battle lest they fall prey to habit.

After all he was on the clock and had to worry about not getting caught while on the military base lest he get rid of all witnesses. So he did not have time to experiment in the desert though he had all the time he needed. He soon figured out how he could manipulate metallic objects and used the three trucks and guns to rebuild his armour to something more practical for the terrain. After he was done only the scattered remains of his asalents and the vehicles were left. But other then that no witnesses.

That was perfect as that mean no one would know what happened and his master and his masters plains wear safe from harm or discovery. And he had gained valuable information to boss about his powers. A win win.

While one might see this as cruel he was not a cruel man he was also very practical as if he let the men go they would have ratted him out. And he could not risk that as his mission was far to important for that.

So he let the thought of his last fight fade as the details barring his experience meant nothing now. Making his to within about thirty feet of a road in front of him he prepared for his mission. After all this was one of the main reason he came in the first place.

The mission was simple, an important person was going to be returning from to base after his unit got stranded from the storm in a village the night before. Now however if his intelligence he had gain at the base was anything to go by they should be arriving any time now.

The village where they wear patrolling near was near the foothill of a mountain so the teran plus the modified teran from the weather would so there progress. So using his skills in logistics and the G.P.S positioning of the vehicles the unit was using he was able to infer that they would be going to go down this one road around two a.m local time, or 200 hours local time.

All he had to do was set up his trape and wait for the target convoy to pass by. It was around 100 hours local time so he had about an hour to go. And while he would have liked to have arrived far sooner then he had. But given how he had a new set of armour and some new weapons to go with it. Not to mention he now knew how his powers work mostly it was worth the delay.

So aberving the road using a combination of long range viewing and thermal imagery to check to make sure the coast was clear. After a few minutes of waiting to be sure he set out on his way to the road to lay his trap.

Standing upon the ground of the road before pulling a back off his left shoulder before laying on the ground. He quickly looked through all his things already having an idea of what he wanted to do in his mind just needed to finalize the details. Looking through the bag he had explosives from the thugs, not very good ones as they would only be damaging at point blank lets you counted shrapnel. But this was no important. He also had some electronics and wire left over from the vehicle he cannibalized and a combat shovel from the base he swiped it from. Those trenching tools wear constantly getting lost in combat so one going up missing would not raise any attention.

So taking out the entrenching tool and some of the explosives wire and metal he had set about his plain. It was crude to say the least but it would do for what he wanted. He did not need or want to destroy the vehicles anyway simply stop them and the little surprise he had in mind would work just fine for that.

However looking at the clock on his H.U.D told him he only had a little over a half hour left so he needed to work quickly. After all even if they wear supposed to come at around to that was no guarantee so he had to work fast.

Though despite this and his overall lack of emotions he was quite happy with himself as this would have been the most fun he had in ages. So despite his formerly jubalent nature no being gone he was having the time of his life. And so long as his master willed it he would continue to serve. After all the reward he would receive along with his service was great but just being able to serve was all the convincing he needed.

So assembling his bomb as quick as he could he could not help but muse to what he father was going through. "Perhaps I will have to pay him a visit at some point as well." he thought out loud. But that thought was quickly discarded in disgust at the idea he would see his father after his master had won. Lest his master said otherwise of course.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

Zakeria was not a happy soldier as he and his convoy of eight men and two women made there way back to base. They had gotten caught out in a freak storm while out on patrol being forced to take cover in there hummers and then a village once the weather cleared enough to see. And that was two days ago.

Now he and his company wear tired dirty and wet ether from rain or mud and all of them wanted nothing more then to take a shore and rest. But like luck would have it they had to drive the long way around case the road was washed out and it was now nearly 200 hours, or two a.m local time.

To make matters worse they wear not even going to there base as supposedly one of their own was being recalled for a family emergency. And while he had nothing against that the timing could have been far better.

His only question was who as he had men who wear married and expecting and if there was a complication that might warrant a recall though admittedly he was unsure. There was also a girl taylor maybe or was it sophie? He could not quite remember now. Any way one of them had a brother killed in an entanglement last week and while she had not been recalled yet he would not be surprised if it was for her, the poor girl.

Either way there was not way to know what it was all about as the radio was having trouble getting through at the time. And while it was working now not of his squad wear awake or caring enough to call back and ask for a repeat of the report. While this would be considered bad practice by many.

They had to also stay stuck in two vehicles for ever a day and push there vehicles out of the mud more than once so. So he would like to meet the man strong enough to put up with all of that and still be sane enough to take a potentially personal call. Besides he did not feel like having to tell one of his squad members bad news right now till he was at least showered and had some coffee to wake up.

He laughed at the thought making him feel better, his brother hated coffee calling it poison. It was honestly funny to basically everyone including his sour old father. While it was not unusual for a child to like coffee it was still funny the way he acted around it. One day when he was in highschool he thought it would be funny to swap his hot chocolate for black coffee.

While some might find it hard to believe it was very easy as his brother was not a morning person. He hated mornings preferring a more go with the flow approach to everything. So waking up to an alarm at six thirty for school was not part of this flow of his. This left him vary easy pray to an early morning prank.

So when he woke up and tasted his favorite morning drink swapped out he freaked out. It took over an hour to get his then seven year old brother to calm down to calm down and to get ready for school for how upset he was because of this stunt. But none would deny his reaction was the funniest thing they had seen. Though he was mad at him for the next few weeks it was till well worth it.

"Something funny sir?" zakeria heard someone ask casing him to turn his head to look to the driver side. His second and closest friend mark was there driving taking his turn at the wheel while the others rested. Mark was a good man and one of his longest friends since enlisting and the only man who he insisted use his name lest they be in a situation that required protocol. And while he kept his eyes to the rode he did keep glancing back to him. "You alright sir?" he asked again with concern.

It was then zakeria realized he had a smile on his face causing him to chuckle amused at himself. "It's alright mark I was just remembering something I did to my brother when he was seven." he said amused as the memory of his brother. The two of them running around the house cashing him while throwing anything he could get his hands on fresh in his mind.

At this mark started laughing lightly at the idea of his friend being a prankster. "your going to have to tell me that one some time. That sounds like a great story. What's it about?" he said asking a smile now on his face some of the fatigue they both shared now gone at the thought of the humorous story.

Seeing no harm in sharing such a story decided it would not hurt to tell him such a story his brother had long gotten over it. "Well you see it st-" up he was immediately cut off when a loud bang happened.

The vehicle swerved greatly as mark tried to regain control of the waywards metal beast. But it was too late as seconds later they slammed into a large rock on the side of the road. Then only a few seconds later after the impact a second larger impact came from behind as the other humvee crashed into the first.

Zakeria's vision was filled with spots as his headache in pain that felt as though he was struck in the face with a metal rod, which given the car in question that was a distinct possibility. So as he pried his face off the dash rubbing his temples nursing the wound his training kicked in.

He immediately went for his sidearm unsure of wear his rifle was in the dark now after the crash. Then he reached a hand over to mark who he shook a few times but with no response. Worried he put a finger to his neck to find a pulse, so he was out cold but alive 'I can take that' he thanked silently.

"Sir! Are you alright he heard from behind him as one of the people in the back came around. He did not turn so he was not entirely sure who it was who was speaking as he tried to clear the pain of his injury from his mind. But that mattered little they needed to get in a defencive position and check who ambushed them.

Taking out his knife and slicing the seatbelt free not wanting to fuse with it as he got lose before putting the knife back and going for his radio. "We need to set of a defencive perimeter and check for hostels on the double. Someone contact base and call in for reinforcement. We have wounded here -" once again he was cut off as a bright white flash enveloped the areas blinding anyone who was not already knocked out cold.

The flash blinded zakeria but he did not need to see to know what it was 'flash bang' his mind thought as he sheiled his eyes in reflex. They wear under attack and he knew it they need to get into a defence position and call for backup or they wear goners. But luck was not on his side as while the flash begin to dim he could hear the metal of the humvee growing under strain.

The metal warped and bent making loud sounds of protest before finally giving way and being ripped completely from the vehicles hinges. Immediately zakeria raised his gun to take a shot at his unseeing enemy uncaring weather or not he was currently blinded.

Before he could even flip off the safety it was like his whole body was being ensnared by hundreds of thine worry snakes that wrapped around but him and his weapon. His arms and legs wear quickly enveloped but these wres. And no matter how many times he tried the gun would not fire so it was ether jammed or these wires wear interfering. Within seconds after that his torso was wrapped up and he was ripped from the car like a rag doll or crash test dummy.

With a thud he hit the ground making his body grown in protest as the pain came through him in waves. Not only the pain from the impact but also the wight as it felt like he was being crushed under the force of an anvil.

Try as he might though to struggle refusing to surrender to this person or thing as he reached for his knife in a vain attempt to try and cut the wire. But in the end his efforts were fruitless as he struggled for nothing. All he could do was stare out into blackness as he vision finally began to clear and he could see a bright red object moving in the darkness of his vision.

Then just as the pressure became to much he felt a prickling sensation on his neck and just like that as his vision began to clear if faded to black again. But this time for good as he lost consciousness and blacked out.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

Paris marinette's house at some time in the middle of the night

Tikki was floating around the living room in the going around checking on lights and outlets to make sure nothing was left on. This was not something she usually did as marinette normally turned everything off when she was alone. That was not to say she had a problem turning this off for the girl and checking to make sure the house was safe. But she did preached what she practiced and that was self responsibility.

Though she would not fault the young women ether as marinette had a long day today. Adrian was not fully better and had to use the restroom constantly today so she had to help him walk and even carry him a few times. And it was not to go to the bathroom.

Unfortunately adrian came down with a bit of a stomach bug after his little trip outside and was having a rough time of it. And while he was much better now and the worst of it seemed to be past him now it left him quite out of sort.

Marinette however was the worst off today though by comparison barring health as she literally carried adrian down the stairs to the bathroom to help get him cleaned more then once. And she also had to get a bunch of thing made for her work so they would be shipped on time. Then to add to the whole mess a problem customer was in the bakery and broke a display case.

Naturally the police were called but after the whole mess was straightened out and they could go tom and sabine wear running behind. This meant that marinette had to close up for her parents on top of making sure her work was done, and! Making sure adrian was well off.

The whole situation made it honestly look like neither one could catch a break. In fact if tikki was a betting spirit she would say that they would sooner break a leg or an arm then they wear to catch a brake.

By the end of it all poor marinette was down for the count and practically fell into the couch like it was a cloud. Within seconds marinette was fast asleep and gone to the world. So seeing as her holder was out of commission for the night took it upon herself to see that the house was safe.

She turned off the lights, checked all the electronics, locked the door, restarted marinette's laundry in the dryer,made sure her sewing supposed wear put away, and made sure that no perishables wear left out. And finally gave marinette a blanket to keep warm for the night.

When she was done and saw the pleased expression on marinette's face she knew she had done right. She knew marinette was working too hard and being too hard on herself. She blamed herself for letting adrian run, blamed herself for letting adrian get sick like he did, and took it upon herself to fix everything even things she ought not do.

And while she could hardly fault the girl as she had one of the biggest hearts she had ever see . The girl was constantly putting unnecessary strain on both herself and those around her without realizing it. Unfortunately the expression chase two mice and catching neither did not seem to be one that marinette had learned as the girl tried biting more than she could she tried so that was what counted.

Though there was something that was troubling her the past few day's not that she would admit it. As over the last week or so after finding adrian before he ran on them she had felt something in the house. Some sort of presence, something dark.

She had thought about telling marinette about it but did not want to raise a panic incase she was wrong. After all spirits like people see in the movies do exist they're just not usually violet and disappear after a few day's….well most of the time.

There was also that ring that arian had on his hand when they found him as there was something familiar about it. While true there was nothing to special about it as far as looks are concerned, but she could not shake the fact that there was something vague familiar about it. While true it could have just been an hair loom of some kind or even just a carbon copy ring that jewelers make en mass. Honestly she could have even seen it or something close to it during the war hundreds of years ago.

Though she could not shake the fact that she felt magic in the house, chaos magic to be specifically. Chaos magic was the same as what cat noir used so she was very familiar with it and how dangerous it was if not used properly.

"Could the ring be magic?" she questioned as it was certainly possible as she felt the same magic in the class room with marinette when adrian was around now that she thought about it. There were hundreds if not thousands of magic rings out there in the world. And while there was no way to know how many wear left or had any power rings wear the most common way to store magic. So it was possible adrian could have ether found it or maybe just been given it as an inheritance of some kind. Though admittedly it was hard to say.

She would have to check the ring over to be sure though just to be safe. After all it could have been a cursed ring which could explain the chaos in the house. But even then that would be questionable as the chaos was faint. And that would also explain why marinette had not scenced it yet. In fact if she had not been a kwami she might not even have scenesed it.

Still if it was cursed she would have to tell marinette so she could dispel it as ladybug...after she taught her how to dispel, though admittedly that was always trixxes and plaggs forte. Of course they would still have to destroy the ring after words just to be on the safe side to keep adrian safe. And if they did that they would need to make a replica to replace it with so he won't notice. Of course with all the favors and contacts fu had thanks to his clinic getting a copy shouldn't be too hard.

In the end it would make little differences what she decided to do now as until she knew more about the ring there was little she could do. Though it still bugged her that the thing look so familiar. But magic rings like like the miraculous wear known to change appearance slightly to blend in better with culture and the personality of there holders. So there was no guarantee that she was even seeing what the ring really looked like.

Sighing defeated she decided to check the ring out when she was done with her rounds and would go from there. She would just have to be careful incase it was boobytraped.

So as she made one more pass before going up stairs to check on adriant she heard a strange sound. The sound itself was not strange as it was the sound of marinette trap door opening. The part that was strange was marinette was a sleep, and adrian could just barely stand without help and given the hour he should be asleep as well. So who was in the house?

"Oh no." she said covering hi mouth realizing she forgot to lock the latch in marinette's room. That meant it had to be a bergler, a criminal was in the house and marinette was asleep and defenceless. Even if she was awake there was not much she could do as marinette, true she was trained and strong but in her current state she wouldn't put up much of a fight. She would have to go spots on and if she did that….

What was tikki to do? She couldn't fight could she, she was basically immortal so there was little chance of her dying but still she did not know how to fight on her own. She was less capable of protecting herself then marinette was before she became.

Her none existent heart stopped however when she heard the trap closing behind who ever was breaking in. with this her decision was made 'she would protect marinette no matter the cost'. A face of determination came to her faces as she charged around the corner to face this robber head on.

But instead of running into a robber she hit something square in the head. "OW!" both she and her assailant said in unison as she rubbed her head in pain. But she did not have time to worry about that as she opened her eyes to stare down this thief. Though instead of the eyes of a human she saw the eye's of a cat. A black one, With green eyes, Six feet off the ground.

Then it hit her just like the cat in front of her it hit both of them who each other wear.

plagg "TIKKI!"

Tikki "PLAGG!"

Plagg "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Tikki "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Plagg "WHAT AM i DOING HERE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Tikki "WHAT AM i DOING HERE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Both went quiet however when the ruffling of fabric came to their ears and the voice of marinette rang out. "Gooo...tooo...beed...tikkiiii.". The girl's voice slow and slurred having extended the vowels of her words. This prompted both kwamii to cover their mouths in panic.

They waited several minutes in silent worry as the waited for marinette to settle again and her breathing to even out before fully going back to sleep. Seeing that that girl was full asleep the pair flew into the kitchen and hid behind the fridge wear they could talk without waking up marinette.

"PLAGG what are you doing here!" tikki quietly shouted in anger a rare thing for her as she said each word carefully and sharply. Plagg however nonchalant as tikki remembered him being however just shrugged off her anger after he got over his intel shock. "What am I doing here. ha! I could as you the same thing. Shouldn't you be with ladybug." he said ignoring her evil glare asking his own question instead.

Tikki let out an irritated huff at his remark 'was he truly that irresponsible to simply walk away from his holder just to break into someone's house. "You have some nerve you should be with you holder, or if nothing else be near by incase he needs you. Remember he can only call you so long as your within a certain range." she said remind him of his job for like the hundredth time that century. Plagg was the spitting image of an alley cat if she ever saw was irresponsible and lazy.

Plagg however simply rolled his eyes in annoyance "Puh" the cat snorted in irritation at tikki's words. "your one to talk." he started making tiki gape in anger but it was his next words that truly struck a chord with the ladybug. "Besides I am near my holder I just came down for a little fresh air case I was bored. Besides if he was in that much trouble all he would have to do is take the stupid ring off and put it back on. At least my holder knows how to do that unlike yours did when you're lost you." he said making tikki's eyes go wide with shock.

Tikki's mouth hung open at his words in complete shock for what he said. "What fu told me about that time your holder came to him with you done for the count after going all over town looking for you because she didn't know that she just had to take the earring off. Don't worry though he never told me who it was that's not his job" he said trying to prevent himself from laughing from the story. He could just imagine it ladybug unable to transform because tikki for once forgot to mention something to her holder like being able to take the earring off and putting it back on again. And running all over town searching for tikki.

"No not that." tikki managed to sputter out as she thought over what plagg had said. 'He said he was close to his holder. He doesn't mean…' but she was unable to complete the thought just thinking of the implications of the information. "Who exactly is your holder?" she asked tentatively. While she had a pretty good idea what he was going to say she wanted to confirm it

"Ha!" plagg laughed amused by her question "use your head spots your the smart one, who do you think it is? it's the guy upstairs.". He responded sounding board as he seemed to be growing tired of the conversation.

But tikki on the other hand her mind was racing a mile a minute at what plagg just said, for if what he said was true then that meant….that meant that "adrian was cat noir!". Her shout of surprise was only barely stifled by plagg covering her mouth.

Thankfully they heard nothing from marinette meaning she did not wake up again much to there relief.

Why is adrian being cat noir such a big problem it's not like….wait a minute" plagg started to say pusing in his own sentence. He looked at tikki for a minute before flying away from behind the fridge. Then before tikki could come back plagg returned.

Before she could question what he was up to however the black cat started laughing hysterically. "So-so your...telling me that you...and marinette...are" he said having to pause from laughing so hard. And when tikki did not answer he got his making him laugh harder. "Oh that is rich. I can't believe this that clumsy girl who sat behind adrian was lady bug the whole time. HA! That's too rich. Wait till I tell adrian."

"No you can't!" tikki cried out breaking plagg from his musinges. "What do you mean know?" he questioned confused. "Adrians been trying to figure out who ladybug is for nearly half a decade. Do you really think I'm just let them live in the same house and not tell him come one spots. The black cat spirit said trying to justify his statement

Tikki while not enjoying th nickname plagg gave her was not concerned with that right now. She was more concerned with plagg telling adrian about marinette after all that was not there secret to tell. "You know why plagg we are not supposed to tell are holders anything about there fellow holder unless they want us to. They have to find out on their own that's how it's always been." She was not lying ether as ever since the beginning one of the biggest rules was that the kwami were never allowed to tell unless told to.

While one might struggle to call what they did not interference the fact was that the kwami wear not permitted to directly interfere with the personal lives of there holders. One could call this hypocritical given there abilities and how much being a holder changes a person. But the rules were there for a reason they had to follow them. They had to resect the privacy of there holders and not interfere unless necessary.

What there holders did in private stayed in privet, who they wear was also privet. While true they wear allowed to seek out and talk to the other holders if necessary. They wear forbidden to give out there holders identity unless the life of the holder in question was in question. And as adrian nor marinette are in no danger of dying. Much less a situation where there identity was disposable it meant they had to refrain from revealing such important information.

Of course though plagg let out a grown of disgust at the idea of keeping his mouth shut. "Come on tikki when ever are holders have ever been in the same room for extended periods of time when not fighting they already knew who they like hercules never even bothered with hidden identities. So what gives rules or not I don't see the problem. I mean it's not like there is a curse or something if we break any rules barring a scolding from master so what gives. "Plagg said having to pause to take a breath and collect himself.

Tikki knew he was an overly pragmatic type but she also knew he was not dumb he did put thought into what he said.

But before tikki could even think about giving a replay the the angry cat started up again. "And honestly it will probably cause more trouble if we don't tell them soon. I mean if they wear half way across town like they wear when this whole mess started the fine. But they live in the same house now. If they find out about each other under the wrong circumstances it will be joah of arc all over again."

This last statement struck a chord with tikki, reason being john of arc while a good person was considered the biggest failure. Not because of her abilities with the mantle of ladybug. But rather a failure on the part of the kwami all of whom took blame for her death. She was a true tragedy had identities not been a problem then maybe she would not have suffered such a terrible fate.

But in the end tikki would still not budge despite this, adrien and marinette had to do things in there own time and neither of them would interfere with that. Even if she did not fully agree with the rules themselves she had faith in the first master that he knew what he was doing and would follow them. She just had to make sure that plagg did so as well, despite his actions he did have a good heart.

"Plagg" she began finally getting the ranting cat's attention who had been going on a tangent for a short while now. "What?" he questioned looking at her accusingly clearly not happy with her. But tikki would not back down they had rules to follow, so taking in a breath to steady herself she spoke. "You must promise not to tell adrian or let yourself be seen by marinette." she said.

Plagg look lived at the thought making it look as though she had attack him personally. Though she would not give plagg a chance to go off again as she continued. "I know you don't like it, I don't like it but the rules are the rules. We have followed the rules since the beginning with near success on all accounts." pusing for a moment wincing internally at the memory.

"True maybe some exceptions should have been made and maybe marinette and adrien are one case wear one dose need to be made. But that is not for us to decide that is for the master to decide if he thinks that they need to know. Clearly he does not see the need for that and we must respect his views." she said finishing.

Her speech while not very impressive and somewhat hypocritical was all she had. She wanted nothing more then to make all of her holders life as happy as possible. She did this not because she has to but rather because she feels she must. With all the pain and suffering that there holders may endure she does all that she can to act not only as a companion but also a confidant and counselor if needed. She does this all for her holder who sacrifice so much for others.

But despite this even though she ever admit that marinette life might be happier with both marinette and adrian getting together. She had to respect the way of things, they intrude so much into the lives of others but there are some things that should remain private.

Even she had to admit though that they made both a great pair but good couple as well. Marinette after giving up on adrian even considered asking cat noir out a few times which was a great surprise. And when she asked she openly admitted that baring the annoying jokes he tried to flirt with that he was not that bad. A dare devil and a love struck fool sure but he was a good person as well and marinette did respect him….even if she never showed fact remained though that they had to keep tight lipped about the identities of their holder regardless of how much ether of them liked it.

Plagg let out a large grown of displeasure following it up with a loud sigh. "Fine will do it your way for now. But I am not taking the fall for this one if things go bad. If they figure us out its you whos going to take the fall spots." he told her defiantly.

While she internally rolled her eyes at the annoying nickname she would not disagree with these terms as she nodded her head. She would accept that after all she did specifically tell plagg to keep quite so if the holder asked she would tell the truth. She just hoped plagg was wrong though plagg was a lot of things but a fool was not one of them. All she could do though now though was hope for the best.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

Pain was the first thing that came to him. Or rather the lack of pain was what first came to mind, the overall lack of feeling in general. Zakeria mind was abuzz as it slowly came to 'what was I doing, I was doing something wasn't I, and shouldn't I be in pain.' he did not know why he should be in pain but only that he should.

He was so confused and this only mounted as he opened his eyes to see a plain stone room with wooden door. It was hard to tell that it was even wood as he was in near complete darkness with the only light being moon light from a window outside the door he was in. "was I captured?" he asked himself.

The his eyes went wide as he remembered everything that happened previously. The attack, the flash bang, the snake things, then he was drugged. Did those raiders capture him for information on. Was it random? Or was it a planned attack because of who his father was. All these things and more ran through his mind as his mind raced with worry of what was going to happen.

He tried to move but predictable he couldn't as he began to realize that he was sitting in a chair tied up with what felt like metal of some kind and form. He was trapped and captured in some form of enemy prison for an unknown reason. The situation he was in was truly something he needed to find a way out of. Or if nothing else find a way to contact allies, and at this point to would take almost anyone the americans, the british, heck he would even consider some more questinoble help at this point.

But this help would not come nore would it ever as a cold metallic voice that sent a shiver up his skin. The voice was cold and calculating, and even though it said few words he knew the help meaning. "Your awake. exceltent."

His eyes went to the corner of the room as he heard movement follow wear the voice came from. Soon after he saw a series of lights come to life as in a stream of ribbons criss crossing a humanoid form.

zakeria began to wonder if he was seeing things as this was only something you seen im movies. He even begin to wonder if some of his bunkmate wear playing a trick on him and that the whole thing was just some elaborate dream. After all one of his other squadmates love cosplay and was constantly playing jokes with the stuff while back home.

This notion that it was just some hox or dream was quickly shattered as a small red light the shape of an eye hole lit up. Then following this was a mach larger red circle that came to light following a few seconds later. The door to the room was then opened letting enough light to see all but the corners of the room facing the door. This left the figure in red light shrouded in darkness.

zakeria began to wonder who this was and what there game was at with all the theatrics he was displaying. But with the sound of moving metal and services he got his answer as the dark man appeared in the moonlight revealing his sleek futuristic form to be seen in the moon's glow.

The man who ever he was truly was an imposing sight to say nothing and his delivery was flawless as mark would say. But it was just a costume it had to be case no such armour existed on earth. So who was this guy and who was he trying to fool.

"Just who are you and what do you want. Case I can assure you your game is far from funny. Assaulting and kidnapping a french soldier is a felony and you will punished harshly, so I recommend intining me now before my unit finds out...unless they put you up to this." he said confidently. There was no way the raiders and thugs of this country would make such a stupid set of armour. Only the anime buffs and video gamers of first world countries would be crazy enough to do something like that. 'Then again my brother was into dressing up so what does that make me for encouraging it?'

The man however did not seem to concerned by his threat though with the outfit on Zakeria doubt he was look up much of anything. But the reality of the situation was also not lost on him, he was still tied up like the village fool and the only way he could get out was being smart. He needed this guy to talk the more he talked the more information he might gleam that could help him get out of this preferably before his friends found out he was kidnapped by a cosplayer. That would be one detail he would make sure never got reported or he would never hear the end of it.

The man was quite for a few moments after he made his claim then spoke in the synthesized voice he had use before. "I can assure you your allies will not find you. For to be found they will have to know wear to look. And I can assure you I am currently monitoring the progress of the surch. They are many many miles from here." he said monotone making zakeria grit his teeth.

"Also" he began "you may wonder why you are in such good condition after your detainment." he said gain zakaria's attention. 'Ya now that you mention it' he thought silently remembering when he first woke up and recalled the attack. If he was going to completely honest he should have broken something, or if nothing else still be battered

The man seemed to pick up on his thoughts "yes for that I would like to apologize.". This surprised zakeria not expecting the man to apologize much less recognise what he did to him. "Unfortunately I am still getting used to my new found strength. I need more practice, though that is why I am here to to train without interruptions or witnesses to worry about." he said finally announcing his intentions.

Zakeria was not happy about this, sure the guy said he was basically targeting ruffians as if he wear to go after armed troops without pulling the same stunt as before there was a good chance of being caught on camera. But he was less than pleased as he was essentially saying that he was going to go around taking people down like it was some sort of video game

Though there was one bit of useful and potantaly vital information that he could use. And that was he said he was coming her to train as macob as that was. Meaning he did not fully know his strengths and abilities. This could prove vital to his escape if what the man said was to be believed.

The guy was a good actor however he would give him that as the man was clearly able to control himself quite well. But zakeria was not stupid and this man would have to be if he was going to fall for the old man in a halloween costume trick.

"As for our location we are in the former base for a group of the bandits that raid the villages." he said in cool fashion not missing a beat. This however got zakerias attention as the raiders for what he seen would not just leave a place like this without reason. And if what he said was true about the troops being miles away why would they leave.

"So did you just stumble upon this cave when it was empty or did someone else drive them out for you?" he asked half laughing at himself for the question was ridiculous in itself. But the man who ever he was was stoic as he had been and it showed in his answer. "What I mean is that the former inhabitants of this cavern are hear in body but not spirit." his voice cold and uncaring as he spoke the words.

Zakeria was caught off guard by this statement as it was not the answer he was expecting. To be honest he was not sure what kind of answer he was expect but this was not it. He was basically claiming to have wiped out an entire nest of armed thugs. That was not something you should claim lightly.

"Just who are you?" he asked again growing increasingly annoyed with the man before him growing impatient. "I'm not interested in dealing with a costume wear puck who thinks he is a villain in a comic book." he said defiantly having completely lost patience.

The man finally showed some sign of emotions and he let out a short laugh. "My associates, call me blitzkrieg." he started to say as he took a step forward. "But." he continued without losing stride "you may call me brother." he said placing a hand from behind his back on his shoulder. "Zak." he added at the end as he lowered himself to meet his gaze.

Zakaria's heart filled with rage at this man's claim as he so calmly used the nickname only his brother used. To think this man was man was claiming to be his brother it was more than he could bare. "I don't know who you are. But won't stand for you insulting my little brother that way. If it weren't for people like you my brother wouldn't be in a hospital for the rest of his life!" he shouted to this man. He knew it was unwise to antagonise him but he would not let this man use his brothers name like some sick tag or trophy.

The man said nothing instead the sound sound of moving metal and plastic could be heard. That was when he noticed the sides of the man's helmet movin like some sort of metallic cocoon. Once the sides broke free the whole helmet lifted up folding back before resting on the back of his neck.

It was the fact however that was most striking, it was indeed his brother alexander, his baby brother. But this was different than when he seen him last, he had a metal device on his mouth that had two leads coming out of it. No doubt the respirator he needed to breath with his scarred lungs. The biggest and most tricking change though was the the large object on the side of his head wear his missing eye was. Now replaced by a red telescopic eye.

"It really is you" zakeria said sounding out of breath as he spoke so taken away was he that he had trouble finding the air to breath. "What happened to you? Why are you here? Who did this to you?" he asked wanting to know the name of the person who turned his brother into...this thing. He wanted to be happy as this was his baby brother.

But how could he be happy when his brother was not acting like himself. Even though he was never the same after the accident he still kept some of that old flare he had from before. But now he was completely different. His brother had always been the smart and calculating one but this was cold and unfeeling. And cold and unfeeling was not what he would use to describe his brother.

As despite his intelligence and his way of thinking alaxe was more prone to simply winging it. And while true he usually had a strategy in mind but that just made him more unique as he was the go with the flow kind of person which made him easy to get along with as he really had no stance on anything.

So watching as alex moved away taking a step back placing his….hands behind his back before standing up straight in professional fashion. "To answer your questions." he began still speaking in the artificial voice "starting with why I am here it's been so long since your last visit so I decided to come to you. After all if moses can't make it to the peak the the mountain will lower itself to him.

"As for your second question" he continued "what happened to happened to me that one is easy. My benefactor gave me power the ability to turn any machine into an extension of myself. Combine this why my tactical abilities creates and potent combination." he explained. As if to demonstrate this point his arm broke down into a combination of parts and like black cables. 'That explains the things that grabbed me' he thought upon seeing them.

Zakeria had to bite back a remark though not wanting to antagonize him but this was concerning to say nothing. 'Just who has he been with? And for how long? Has he been completely brainwashed into believing what he's told?". These questions wear concerning he would have to tread carefully and treat his brother like the child soldiers if he was to get anywhere. Much less actually get through to him and past whatever brainwashing he had gone through.

"For the second question." he begin again raising a hand in explanation "that question is even easier." he now waving his hand about in a fanciful gesture. This gesture was promising as before the accident alexander would often you elaborate hand gestures when speaking. 'At least some of him is still in there.' he thought hopefully praying that his brother could be saved.

But he had to pay attention as his brother spoke again finishing his second question "the man who gave me this strength is gabriel." this statement came without flare or hairs that normally came with with his brother who loved being a bit dramatic.

But that name was familiar, vary familiar he knew he had heard it before back in pair-. letting out a gaspe as his memory returned to him. "Hawk moth!" he exclaimed "you're telling me the who did this to you is hawk moth!". His statement came out in shaking breath at just the thought. 'An akuma. But there gone. That mad man is in prison, did he escape?' his mind was racing with fear at what that man could have done to his brother.

But he was not prepared for the answer that was to come. "So you do remember my master." alex said mading his heart skip a beat. He said it with such loyalty like he himself would do with his commander. 'Is he truly gone? Has that man taken him away forever?' he questioned feeling despair at the thought of his once beloved brother being replaced by a heartless killer.

That was when he remembered something "ladybug" he said out loud unable to stop himself. This got his brothers full attention. His eye, his real eye went half shut in anger, his circular eye turning into a tiny dot of red. His voice returning to him in a growl. It was clear the mention of the girl angered him, or at least made him unhappy to some capacity.

But this display of emotion quickly vanished as alax shrugged it off returning to his normal calm self. "Lady bug" he begain while shoring full control of his emotions made him seth for a moment in anger. "Will not be a problem. For that is part of the reason I am here. For when I return from this deture we will gather the remaining akuma. And with your help we will crush there resistance to fight and ladybug and cat noir will fall. All for the glory of master gabriel's ideal."

Zakeria paled at this 'more akuma? Meaning more than one at a time.' the thought was as terrible as it sounded. While he was deployed most of the time that hawkmoth was around he knew enough. The man could turn anyone person who was having as much as a bad day into a super villain. But last he heard hawk moth could only turn one person, maybe two into an akuma. The idea of many being turned into akuma all at once….."paris. No all of france would be destroyed."

He felt sick now as just the thought of his brother helping that mad man destroy paris and who knows what else was painful. And this pain only increased when alaxe spoke again "yes your right. Paris will burn if we attack it all at once. But that would defeat the point of going out of are way. We need the city in one piece if we are to complete our goal in short order. And to speed things up you will also assist us."

zakeria had to scoff at this statement brother or, not brainwashed or not. His brother would have to be a literal fool if though he would give him anything more then the information on his dog tags. "If you think I will just roll over like a dog my brother or otherwise you have completely lost your mind. This isn't one of your stupid video games this is reality!

The man who was once his broth then began to laugh hysterically (think durg from the 2003 star wars cartoon. I think don't quote me) at his words. The whole thing was horiffing to listen to as his brother made a sound that was not what he should sound like. Only stopping when he began to cough witch confirmed his suspicions about his lungs. The sight was painful to watch as it reminded him of the damage that had been inflicted to his brothers body in the accident….no attack.

He hacked and cough for a minute before finally getting his breathing under control before making a remark about being more careful in the future. "You are right about one thing though." he began to say garnering zakaria's attention again. This is reality. But reality is just as much a game as a game is. You just have to know how to play it. And I know how to play it very well."

As for you helping me it doesn't matter that you are willing or not." he started to say a sense of dread filling zakeria. "For you see." alax said drawing close once again "you don't have a choice in helping me." he said returning to a momintone state the humor he expressed from before now gone.

Zakaria's mouth went dry at this not only because this was his brother but because he knew alex was right. Alex was smart he was not stupid if he could manipulate two bullies into fighting each other to get them both expelled from school. If he could do that at the age of six he could easily play people like it was a game. The only question was though is what did he have in mind on doing.

"What are you going to try in make me do." he asked defeated, while he would not simply roll over he would at least like to know what his now deranged brother had in mind. At least that way he might have some one of fixing this mess.

A dark chuckle escaped his brother hidden lips and his good eye lit up once more, it was faint but very noticeable given how emotionless he had been through his meeting.

For we will make father suffer for his aragence Though if it's any consolation you will thank me later." he said before turning around and leaving the room.

I need to gather more intel. I will be back later. Do not bother trying to escape you shall not get far." he said before his helmet begin to close in on his brothers scared face once again. Finally he closed the door leaving zakeria alone.

If it was possible for a person's heart to break from despair it most likely would have in the moment. His brother and the most important member in his family was corrupted and turned into some space opera villain. He could not help but let out a sob of regret and despair. What was he to do? Was there any hope for not only his brother but all of paris? Or wear they all doomed to burn. "Why did this happen?" he asked but knew there would be no answer.

All he knew was that if something was not done then paris and quite possible the entire world was doom. "Please ladybug save my brother." he prayed hoping that the super heroine lived up to her reputation. If not he had no idea what he would do. For now however he had little choice in what he had to do as all he could do was sit and watch and hope he could find an opening in his brothers scheme.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

 **CUT! And print**

 **That is all I have this time catbug fans sorry if you wanted even more but you going to have to wait. I hope this lived up to expectation for you all but if not I apologize as I guess I need to try harder next time.**

 **And for those of you wanting more to do with adrian and marinette don't worry we will see more of them soon enough. But I needed to set up more world building as set some things in motion for now. But I hope my use of blitzkrieg was a worthy substitute for you all in the meantime.**

 **Also for those that want more chole she will be around don't worry but for now she will be on the side lines as are favorite duo take more center stage. And as fo cat noir he will show up soon enough for those who are worried, but you must remember that he was emaciated and that normally takes months to recover from depending of the severity so if your wondering you will have to wait a few more chapters before he shows up.**

 **I guess that is all I have for now. I will start planing and typing of the next chapter after I likely sleep for the next few days and get the fatigue out of my hands. But don't worry It shall come. Thank you all for reading and I wish you all a good day or night, which ever it is when you read this.**

 **P.s if some of my typing reads somewhat funny I was watching a show with a lot of old world speak so if I accidently put any in I'm sorry about any confusion.**


	17. Chapter xv surprise guest

The air was cold today as the temperature had plummeted last night while paris slept. This left many cold and bitter as they got out of there nice warm beds and forced themselves to go to work. To aid to the storm the wind had picked up blowing hard and fast leaving many streets in complete blindness as people struggled to see wear they wear going.

Adrien was for once however happy he had nothing better to do as he stayed nice and warm under the wondrous quilted blanket marinette's mother gave him that morning. It was a nice warm vibrant sky blue witch was a nice change from the gray practically black sky that day.

As the blond rubbed the his feets as best he could manage with how stiff they still felt he thumbed through yet another volume of the book series marinette had loved him. While he was able to enjoy the narration and appreciate what the writer was getting at this book was not fully to his taste. Though to be fair it was a kids book and he was always more into the more advanced adventure and teen novels even as a child.

The only problem there was that while marinette read now and then she was not an avid reader like himself. He would often spends day's or weeks at a time milling through books when he had free time when he got bored of video games and other entertainment. Marinette on the other hand bless her generosity only had a handful of books that wear not about sewing or cheep teen romance.

And while he had nothing against teen romance novels he never enjoyed reading them. Ture he was a bit of a romantic and acted like prince charming he would never deny that. The fact was though is that he just never had any desire to read them. Besides most wear just sappy cookie cutter stories about teen drama. What was so fun about reading about what was in the tabloids. No he much more preferred fantasy for recreational reading when he just needed something to do as it was an escape from his day to day life. And you couldn't escape if you read about what happens everyday outside in his mind.

As he flipped to the next page and tried to pay attention to the narration. Something about two dragons and a cheata of all things getting chased by a golem or whatever. He could not help but think about marinette. The poor girl for all her intentions packed a mean slap, though admittedly he probably deserved worse for being so reckless. After all what would he do once the transformation ended? After all he did not just happen to have camembert in his non existent pockets.

But the poor girl had been runner herself ragged with work trying to hide her emotion for some time now. In fact he sure if his father was still running around he would have been all over her with an akuma. He knew something was bothering her but she just would not say anything, he would have asked but for all he knew it was a private family matter and he did not want to intrude.

Closing the book at this last thought before throwing it aside as he was not going to get any more reading done. "Never thought I'd want to read a story about merfolk" he said in defeat. It had been a few day's scene he had finished volume two of the series that marinette accidently gave him. And unfortunately she did not have the rest and the second book ended on a cliff hanger. To add to his boredom none of her other books were able to hold his attention for more than a few chapters before he grew bored with them.

Scratching his tired muscle feeling his fingers graze the ceiling above him as the knots in his shoulders and back started to leave him. Letting a satisfied sound leave his lips as his body felt much better. That was one thing he was enjoying so much right now and that was sitting up without help.

It had taken literal weeks but just as december was rolling around he was finally returning to his old self….mostly. Barring the fact he was still bone thin, the main problem he faced was his strength, or rather the lack of strength he had now. It was embarrassing honestly, at one point he was strong enough he could have pushed a car on his own on an incline without the form of cat noir. Now….he couldn't even take a bath without help.

His face going red at the very thought of his bath time as it made him feel like a child. Having to need marinette or her mothers help to bath was absolutely embarrassing. The only thing that made it tolorible was when marinette did it she always diverted attention to something else like she was not helping him with what she was. At least when she did that it kept his mind occupied and away from the obvious.

Speaking of he thought as he looked down towards the trap in the floor "I wonder what marinette is up to?" he wondered out loud. The question while not something he would lose any sleep over as he was sure he would find out eventually anyway. But he did wonder as she had been gone all day had not come to see him that day.

He had entertained the thought of going down to ask what she was up two, but then he remembered that he couldn't support his own weight without help. And the idea of freezing on the floor and trying to crawl down two flights of stairs did not appeal to him. So feeling far more comfortable lying somewhere warm and not ice cold was more preferable sided against staying his curiosity.

"So giving up already? Speaking of curiosity he thought as he looked to his left to see plagg floating up from behind the bed. "That was faster than the last one, what causes you to give this time?" he asked as he picked up the discarded book.

Plagg looked at the cover of the discarded paper back with curiosity. "Well what's wrong with this one?". Plagg let the question hang as he dropped the book in his lap in usual rude and thoughtless tact.

"Last time it was to slow, the one before that had too much teen drama and not enough development. So what could be wrong with this one?" plagg asked sounding board and overly sarcastic.

Adrian sighed frustrated. While he did appreciate having some company with his ring back plagg was far from the best company."It's a kids book, no suspeness or wander of what will happen next" he said flatly though it was the truth as the book left nothing to the imagination. Everything you needed to know was practically given to you and even one of the early plot twists wear easy to see. The whole plot was honestly a mess as well as it felt more like a children's cartoon rather than a book.

However plagg seemed unimpressed by his statement as he just rolled his eyes letting out a board grown. "Come on don't give me that kids book nonces. That little merboy book was a kids book and you polished of the second volume in three days." the black cat retorted. "Seriously and that was the last one too that you haven't read yet." he said finally before landing on the book.

Adrian couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed by this statement as plagg had him on that one. True the book was a children's book, I'll be it a mature childrens book if ever there was one. Seriously there was attempted murder and blood in the book. But that was just it that book did not hold back nore did it hold your hand as you read along.

All the other books were just cheep love stories that chole always gave him or held you hand and gave everything away. But he doubted that plagg would accept that answer he was just that kind of person,...cat?...spirit? To be honest adrian was never fully sure what plagg was but he was still that kind of being who would do things like that.

But he also knew plagg would only tease him more if he did not give any answer as was the way of plagg. Cat noir throughout history could never deal with plagg but could also never be without the annoying creature.

"Plagg the first book marinette gave me while not my favorite was at least mature enough not to hold you hand and actually made you ask wear the story was going." he responded and to get a grubling unconvinced sure from plagg.

"Your just mad that marinette doesn't have volume three?" plagg said making a jab at him a wide toothy grin plastered on his lips. Adrien just rolled his eyes at this display unable to understand the cat some times. This cat was supposed to be a protector in his own right and a guild to using the rings power. And yet he seemed more interested in casing problems for said holder then helping.

Adrien just shook his head in disbelief. "I must be cursed to put up with you." he said defeated unable to say more. This however seemed to only amuse plagg even more as he began laughing on his seat on the book.

"Don't be like that adrien" plagg said flying up to ardriens eye level. "any curse I can place on you can't be that bad. After all you already got marinette hitting on you while your in the bath….get it? Hitting on you" he said half laughing from the memory of adrien telling him why he had a handprint on his face.

"Who-who knows maybe sh-she will start hitting on you again and ask to marry you." he said struggling to contain himself as he started laughing uncontrollably. "Th-that-that is if you can survive her hitting on you again." he said as the dam over his lips broke and he began laughing like a mad fool.

This last comment hand adrien's face go red with embarrassment as after he came out of the bath there wear a lot of questions. All of witch based around the handprint on his face casing a somewhat lengthy discussion. A discussion made ever longer by the fact that her parents would not let go of the fact that she slapped a guest unprovoked. And after he told plagg about it would not stop teasing him about it.

"Agh! Plagg" he groaned as he cupped his head in his hands starting to wonder if there was any reason he put up with him. As he looked down towards his lap trying to look away where were plagg was not. But as he looked at the book in his lap a light bulb moment struck him as his lips curled in a cheshire grin.

Quietly and carefully he grabbed the book bringing the article closer so not to risk hitting the flailing plagg as he laughed his head of. As he slowly raised the book up away from wear plagg could accidentally get bumped he took and grasped it with both hands. Now raising the book above his head as he took car full aim at the cat who had yet to turn round. 'Big mistake' he thought as he readies himself.

And then "Hay plagg" adrien said humorously getting the cat's attention causing him to turn around. "Ya" he heard plagg said as the spirit looked up to adrian. Only for his eyes to go wide when he saw the book raised above adrien's head ready to come down.

The spirit let out a yelp of surprise as he tried to fly away but it was too late as the he slammed the book down on top of plagg. And unable to break away slammed down on top of adriens legs casing the boy to wince slightly.

The room was then quite for a few moments allowing adrien chance to see his work and to feel his body real a bit. This was another thing he hated being his body was weak not just in strength, as a blow like that would have been like a fly landing on him at his peak. Now it left him tender and stinging from both the effort and the impact on his body.

The silence was soon broken however when the muffled and now somewhat disgruntled voice of plagg came though. "I'm ok." he said sounding like his mouth was full of cotton, which given type of blanket that he had that was not too far of a stretch.

The voice of plagg rang out once more a few seconds later "I deserved that didn't I?" he asked once again sounding muffled and muted. And while adrien was not sure if he was asking that honestly because he wanted to know, or if it was rhetorical.

In the end it did not matter as adrien decided to answer regardless "yes you did." he said trying to stifle a laugh as plagg let out another louder and longer grown. Adrien could smile at plagg now as the kwami over reacted to this little prank. And while maybe he should feel a bit guilty for what he had done, but the kwami even admitted to being \ far worse in the past and he was driving him nuts. So it was worth it.

Plagg however seemed to sense his thoughts at this point. "you a terrible holder adrien abusing your kwami like this.". Adrian however with some of his old chat charm shining through could not help but add an extra remark. "I am only as bad as my partner." he said in cool voice one that he had not used in years.

"Ya well-" plagg began to say but adrien quickly shushed him as he heard something downstairs. Listening for a moment he quickly realized that it was the sound of feet moving up the stairs. Eyes going wide he immediately telling plagg to hide as he pulled the book back and opened it to a random page. And while he did that plagg flew to the other side of the room slipping behind marinette's dresser.

And no sooner did plagg take cover did marinette's mother come up through the trap. Immediately he put a small smile on his face, the one he had practiced over his modeling career to hide his near panic of having plagg getting seen..

Moments later ms dupan-chang looked over towards his place on marinette's bed and she gave him a bright motherly smile. While it may have sounded silly to many to pay attention to a mothering look a person gave given how she herself was a mother. For adrien it meant a lot as while she was not his mother he would like to think that she would treat him the same as ms dupan-chang dose now.

"Good afternoon adrien." she said greeting him pleasantly as she climbed the stairs to the bed. This remark though did surprise him slightly as he had not realized how much time had passed.

But in the end his hid his surprise as he returned her greeting. "Good afternoon to you as well ms dupan-chang." he responded politely in kind.

Marinette's mother however just let out a gentle laugh "please adrien call me sabine." she requested. This cased adrian to blush slightly in embarrassment as he placed a hand behind his head. "Sorry ms-er I mean sorry sabine." he said stuttering slightly when he almost said ms again.

Sabine clearly not offended by this slip of the tongue rather simply overlooked this as she sat down next him. However she did not stay like this for long as she gave him a knowing look. "That book not to your taste?" she asked making him look at her confused.

"Ya the book is great." he said trying to sound convincing and while his modling voice was a bit rusty admidently he sounded convincing enough. But at the same time he could not help but ask "why do you ask? Is there something I should know?" he asked politely.

Sabine however had an amused look in her eyes as though she heard the punch line to a joke he had so clearly missed. "I was just asking because last I checked you are not supposed to read a book upside down." she remarked trying her best not to laugh.

This statement got adrien's attention as he looked down at his hands wear he held the book. To indeed find out that he was in such a rush he forgot to make sure he was in fact holding the book upside down. Groaning loudly displeased with himself as sabine let out a short laugh as he set the book off to the side once more.

"I am sorry" sabine admitted, "I only came to check on you and to see if you wear up for lunch.". It was then that adrien looked over to the clock to see that it was not morning at all but a bit past one in the afternoon.

Falling backwards sighing defeated as not only had he wasted most of the day reading a book he did not like, but he had been caught red handed no excuse. He could hear the kindly mother laughing slightly in earnest at his reaction. While he would have felt embarrassed he knew that his reaction would probably be similar if he was watching the seen play out from her perspective.

Sabine stopped her laugh a moment later before speaking, "Should I assume you would like something to eat?" she asked politely. Adrian just sighed not wanting to speak as he would likely only trip over his words by this point. So instead just nodded his head.

This action cased another short laugh to escape sabines lips before she got up from her seated position. "I'll get you something in a few minutes then." she told him before starting to walk down the stairs while adrian muttered a curt thank you.

As the mother left back down through the trap adrien could not help but let out a sigh of relief now that she was gone thanks to that close call. After all while sabine was a nice enough person who may for all he knew liked cats. He was also fairly certain that she would not be so keen on having a talking one in her house.

However sabine soon returned a few moments later looking through to trap towards him getting his attention. "Oh I almost forgot. Marinette said she would be back soon and she would have something for you." the mother said surprising adrian greatly.

"Ah...ok." he said hesitently as the mother left once again to do whatever it is she needed to do. Leaving adrien to his vices in silence once again. While he was glad sabine did not find out about plagg he would still like some company as he was tired of being left alone all the time. And while he liked plagg and all as it was kinda an occupational requirement he still wanted someone else to talk to.

Heck even when he was at home with his father he still had other people who talked to him, even if they wear on the payroll and not talking to him because they wanted to. But for the past few day's all he had was plagg as everyone else was bussy. Still it was better than living on the streets he supposed so there was a pulse in that, if only minorly.

His smile from before started to fall into a frown at that thought is it also lead into another matter, namely his inability to walk and his overall weakness. The damage to his body while not irreversibly from what he understood it was still pretty bad and it could be days to months before he could walk again without plaggs help. The fact was he couldn't even walk without plagg much less actually fight alongside ladybug.

Then is the matter of heritage, even though marinette was willing to forgive him along with her family and alya. The fact was that others would be less sympathetic and if for some reason he lost his ring or transformed with ladybug around….well he did not want to think about it.

Ladybug saw him as a helpless bystander if she found out that he was in fact cat noir she might think he had something to do with the whole mess in the first place. And if that happened he might find himself in a cell right next to his father. Who was the last person he wanted to be near.

'No. I can't let that happen my ladybug needs someone better than me. After everything she could and should have better than me' he thought to himself calmly as realization hit him. I need to find someone else to be cat noir'.

Their was little other choice he was not fit anymore and for all he knew would never walk on his own again as it was a possibility given how sick he was. Their was also the fact it could be years till he was strong enough to hold is own in a fight even if he could walk again. Not to mention the amount of work it would take to build himself up enough just to go through daily life again was something he was not looking forwards to.

Their was also the fact that even if he did somehow manage to get back on his feet and strong enough to fight back he was darn sure that his father knew who he was. The look in his father's eyes after he was taken away was practically a dead give away. And even if he somehow did not know for certain that he was cat noir he suspected as much and knew he had something to do with his defeat.

That meant that if he returned all he would have to do to bring him down was say that he was cat noir to a fellow inmate or a guard or something. While he did not know how securely he was imprisoned the fact was it would not be hard to take him down. Simply slipping a note to a guard would be all it would take. And there was also the fact that people still hated him for being gabriel's son.

Their was also the fact that he did not want to risk putting marinette or her family in danger. While they might understand his situation and be sympathetic, he would never forgive himself if they got hurt because of his secret. After all staying in marinette's house was one thing as it meant little risk of people finding him. But going out even as cat noir left a lot of risk, Too much risk.

If he changed back before arrive back to mariners house or was caught sneaking in or out...he honestly did not want to imagine he explains he would have to do. Not to mention the large amount of panic he cased just by leaving. If they found out he was sneaking out all the time he was unsure he wanted to deal with the consequences.

Sighing loudly as he laid down laying his head back into the bed as realization set in hard. It was a major blow to him to have to give up the one thing that gave him freedom he crazed for so long. But it was the right thing to do, ladybug needed a partner and she needed someone better than what she had.

Having to train a new cat noir would be a pain he knew that for sure, but it would take less time to train a new cat then rehab and old beaten one. Besides if she had a new one there would not be any risk of him or her being a dange as far as their family was concerned. Heck even if he gave the ring to the child of a murderer they could have nothing on his father.

Thinking about what would make a good chat noir begin to wonder if he knew anyone who would be a good one. 'Nino might be a good choice, if I can ever get close to him, alya might even be a good idea. Then again plagg knows who they are a he might try to convince them to return the ring to me.'

The more he thought about it the more he realized he could not just give the ring to anyone he knew. Or more specifically plagg knew. He would need to find someone who was trustworthy but also someone who did not know who he was. And by extension would be unwilling to give back the ring.

He would have to think about it later as it was lunch time and he could hear sabine come back up the stairs. He was so spaced out though that he mostly just spoke in auto pilot not even paying attention. His mind to wrapped up in who would take over as chat noir, and how he would actually get out to give it to someone.

He was not sure what he ate or if he even liked it so deep in thought was he and did not even notice when sabine left him to eat in peace. His mind was just so wrapped up in the thought of what he would have to do. He was only broken from this when he heard knocking at the door.

He would have ignored it save for the fact that sabine was calling his name quite loudly. "Adrian. Adrian. Are you awake?" the mother asked gaining his attention. He looked over towards the trap door wear the mother had come up from

"Y-es I'm up mis-er sabine" he said hesitant correcting himself again by not using her name. 'That is going to take a while to get used to.' he thought to himself. And he was not wrong either, all his life he had been told to refer to people using proper pronouns, so using casual names was not an easy thing to do.

With friends his age it was easy as they did not realy have any titles or anything else, but sabine was both married and his hostess so if felt almost wrong not to adresser to mention she was his senyor by at least twenty years and deserved to be addressed formally in his mind.

But he pushed this aside as the hostess begin to speak "I just thought I would let you know that marinette just came back and wanted to know if you wear awake as she has a surprise for you." she told him cheerfully.

"Surprise?" he mouthed quietly wondering what she meant by this. "Ah alright let her know I'm awake." he said unsure of what else to say as he was honestly wondering that marinette had in mind.

Moments later he watched sabine leave his eyes looking at the trap that was left open indicating someone was going to be coming up very soon after. Waiting he began to hear muttering, or what sounded like muttering due to the distance. He heard or thought he heard the voices of marinette and alya.

"So alya is visiting." he muttered to himself thinking about her last visit. Even now after so much time she was still apologize to him. While he told her numerous times she was forgiven it never seemed to be enough. Though her last visit was fun as she was showing him a video game that a friend of hers was working on that had ladybug as a playable character. It was apparently ladybugs old costume though, which he found intriguing as he had yet to see the new one.

Now he had a feeling this friend was max but decided to let alya play her little game of guess if you can. But it was a fun visit all the same, and he could almost forget his perdicimand. That vest was over a week ago though so he wondered what she and marinette had in store this time.

However he could have sworn he recognized one voice in particular that was nether marinette or alya, and it was distinctly male. This made him nervous as to who it could be. Their wear a number of people who knew would love to see him as nothing but a red mark on the ground. While he doubted marinette would do something like that, he was less sure about other people. After all if what marinette told him about the meeting with alya was to be believed she was about ready to strangle him.

As he listened he began to make out what they wear saying "I still don't see why you can't tell me what you're trying to show me. What is so special that you had to bring me hear instead of home after picking me up from the airport." a deeper and disgruntled voice said from down below.

'It can't be' he thought to himself recognizing the voice being familiar with it since his days in highschool. But he was sure that he was miss hearing as there was no way that he was here, he was sure that he would never see him again. While he was sure he would not be mad he was nervous.

He could hear the footsteps of people walking as he listened to them talk "come on alya can we just go home I need some sleep it was a long flight?." the voice asked irritably. But a laugh from alya broke out a moment later. "Nope, trust me you will want to know what this surprise is as soon as possible." she said sounding far to happy for her own good.

"Realy." the male voice said even more agitated, "marinette surly you can see this is silly, I mean come on even you should know that after a long flight you normally want to sleep. You've been on flights before." the male voice stated.

This time it was marinette who laughed though not as loudly or and smugly, "I tried telling that to alya but she wouldn't have it. She said you needed to see this as soon as you arrived." marinette responded back casing the male voice to grown.

As they drew closer adrian felt his muscles tense up as he wear about to enter the room, the fact was he was terrified. He was afraid of what may happen, would he be rejected, would he be attacked, or would it be worse. This fear permeated him and he could feel his face turn into a frown, eyes dilated filled with held back panic. He could feel his skin erupt in prickling sensations as he felt his body ready to sweat.

All of this casing him to hold his breath when he seen the familiar dark skinned form move through the trap and stood up looking around the room. Then a moment later the amber colored eyes settled on his form. Adrian felt like his lungs would burst from worry, but instead his hand rose up subconsciously before waving towards his old friend.

Nino look stunned his mouth agape in surprise letting out a series of indistinguishable sounds. While standing their paylizied gave adrian a good view of him and all the changes. He look much older now not super old but he was more defined and less….child like if one would in appearance. He was also more filled out and less lanky then before having clearly had at least one more growth spurt since he last saw him. He no longer had his classic cap though that could be down to the weather as well.

He could see him wearing a relatively comfortable fitting blue sweater over his form that held little slack showing that he had gotten bigger. His hair had grown out a bit as well being at least one to two inches long, no longer having the shaven look from before. He wore a pair of plain black boots with a red scarf around his neck.

Moments later the heads of both alya and marinette could be seen poking through the trapdoor to look at the scene. While marinette held a look of worry on her lips alya looked less so and look more like the cat the got the cream. 'Ironic given who he was'.

This scene continued to play out till alya walked into the room and next to nino leaning in close to his ear before saying. "Well? Aren't you going to say hello?" she said in sly fashion making the boy jump snapping him from his trance.

Adrian watched as nino wheeled around on heel to face alya with an annoyed expression. "How long have you known about this?" he asked suddenly. Alya just gave out a sly chesser smile beforensering with "long enough.". It was pretty clear that alya was enjoying nino's surprise a bit too much.

Without warning nino gave her a playful punch in the shoulder "you jerk!" he exclaimed in a sound of anger but it was clear to see on his face that he was not mad. This did not surprise adrien and nino was always a good sport, though admittedly this might have been pushing the good sport category a bit.

Alya and marinette seemed to pick up on this as well as the three began laughing putting a smile on adrians face. As marinette and alya continued to lughe he watched on as nino practically ran up the stairs to his current place. nino quickly made his was up and once in front of him he got on his knees and pulled him into a big hug casing him to gape is surprise.

Adrian was taken so off guard by this he was not sure what to do, but slowly his hands rose to reciprocate the hug on his longtime friend. The pair continued their embrace for a short while before nino begin to pull back releasing adrian from his hold. Nino then placed both his hands on adriens shoulders, tapping him once, twice before stopping to stair almost as if he could not believe what he was seeing. Adrien for his part was just happy to see his old friend again, and happy not to see him coming at him with a knife in hand.

"HAY YOU TWO!" the voice of alya rang out casing both boy's to look towards marinette and alya who wear now standing next to one another. The girl had an expression of mock anger on her face making adrien wonder ether what she was screaming or what he did. "Just so you know adrien he's my boyfriend." she said with a tone accusation.

Almost immediately adrien's face shot blood red as bad if not worse than marinette as he reeled away from nino looking away. Alya with in seconds of seeing his reaction was laughing so hard she was holding her sides, weather from pain or just to keep herself from falling was anyone's guess.

"Alya that's mean." marinette said reprimanding her friend for her actions towards adrian. "Adrien ignore her." she said a moment later to adrian but it was not much help as he could not look at them still embarrassed.

He did look towards nino when he felt another tap on his shoulder making him look him questioningly."it's good to see you again." was all he said with a small smile on his face. Adrian staired for a moment before returning the smile "it's good to see you again as well." he responded back.

"So wear were you that you needed to take a plane back to paris?" adrian asked his previous fears gorn and forgotten as he tried to catch up with nino just like old times.

"I was in america on tour at a whole bunch of anime conventions." he answered surprising adrien. "Apparently one of the sponsors for a whole ring of cons is a big fan of mine and asked me to do shows at nearly twenty of them in the last four months. And he paid me pretty well for it." he explained.

This news was not lost on adrien as he knew how much something like this ment for nino and what it could lead to down the road. "That's great nino." he was genuinely happy for nino, everything he had been working towards since as long as he met him.

"Ya thanks, but dude I would have been hear weeks ago if I know you were here. Heck it would have been christmas before I got back had a snowstorm not cased the las con on my ture to get canceled for safety." the man confessed. Adrien was by no means surprised by this as nino was always putting other people above himself. Nino was a lot like marinette in that regard always putting others before themself.

However despite this he was glade nino didn't as now he would be able to expand his business and hopefully be invited back next year. Still he was glad to see nino after so many years, in fact it felt like a lifetime ago that the four of them wear together again. His mind could not help but go back for a moment to that last day they hung out.

They wear all at school having lunch when the akuma attack that would lead them to the clue that they needed to track down and stop his father. After that he ran to stay away from all the people who wanted him dead, and to protect his friends.

The frown on his face must have been telling as a moment later "Are you alright adrian?" the voice of marinette rang out drawing his attention away. Looking up he could see marinette and alya had joined nino on her bed level. All three of them had worried looks on their faces as they stared back at him.

He knew they cared and knew that that they wear worrying of a place of care. But he did not want to bring them down with doubts and problems. Worried that his reminiscing about that day would bring them. No this was supposed to be a happy friends reunion and he had no intention of spoiling that. They did not need to hear about his emotional baggage, he could sort through his problems later. And besides that his father was in prison and their was little chance having an even worse relationship with him.

'No' he thought shaking his head before putting on a smile 'I worry about all that later'. "Yes I'm fine I was just thinking about what we should do now that we are all together." he said lying. He did not like lying to his friend however he wanted to keep his problems to himself.

Immediately after alya made a sound of joy "on that note I got a great idea, there's that new video game made by the people he made ultimate mecha strike 2 its the one with ladybug in it. We should totally tag team. Me and nino vs you and marinette! Hang on I'll go get it." she rambled off before running off so fast neither he or the others had time to respond as she went down the stairs to the main floor of marinette's room and down one more flight into the living room.

"Great I-dea." nino half heartedly slowly in surprise as he watched his girlfriend run out the room. everyone knew nino was used to this sort of behavior from alya it was also no surprise that even someone who is used to it could be taken off guard by her.

"H-h-ha-hahahahahahahaha!" adrien cried beginning to laugh aloud surprising both nino and marinette making marinette jump even in surprise. He knew he should feel bad for scaring them but he could care less right now. It was just reminded him so much of the old day's when they just hung out and dealt with the day to day mischief.

This seemed to lighten the mood for everyone as nino began laughing as well. Before long even marinette was joining them. It was not as though what they were laughing about was even vary funny, rather it was the fact that they wear to gether again and able to just forget about all that had happened. They could be together as friends once more without concern for what was to come if only for a while

When alya came back she was confused by their outburst but said nothing instead just chose to set up the game till the others calmed down enough to join her. Eventually working together they managed to help adrian down and get him set up in front of the tv in the living room. Once they had adrien set up and a blanket for warmth they began playing.

As they played adrien was practically playing on autopilot not really caring weather he won or lost. Rather he was just happy to finally be back with his friends again. It was something he thought he would never get to do ever again and it was nice to not. He did no know how long this situation would last or if he would be able to live a somewhat normal life ever again, much less how he was going to find a new chat noir. But for now he would enjoy it for as long as he could and put all his worries away for another day and enjoy today.

Else wear in a cave in the desert far from paris.

Zakeria sat tied to a his chair looking tired and disheveled from days of waiting in this room in the cave. His combat uniform was disgusting from sweat and dirt, but he could not take it off. He face had grown out into a short stubble ridden beard. He had dark bags under his eyes as he refused to sleep not wanting to be asleep when his brother arrived.

It must have been at least a week if not two since he was captured, but it was hard to say for sure with having his only method for telling time literally tied behind his back. And without any sunlight it made it even harder to figure out.

That was the other thing that changed a day or so after he was captured his brother moved him to a far more spacious room in the cave saying he needed all of the smaller ones for some reason. Though he did not say what he had a few idea's and none of them wear good. The larger room which was the size of a ballroom had electric lights thankfully but no sunlight came in, and the lights were basically cheap spot lights on stands though they wear better than nothing.

Over the course of the last week the room had quickly begun to fill up with weapons big and small for guns to rockets. With in two weeks the room was nearly a third full of weapons, all of which wear being crated up looking ready to ship. Though how he planned on smuggling all these he had no idea.

It was not like it mattered anyway, he was tied up with steel cable to a solid metal chair and handcuffed just for good measure. There was no way he was getting untied on his own, and even when his brother lazily let him go in his presence even so much as a bad look would have him back on the chair. Thanks to the black cables that shot out from his brothers body like quills from a porcupine.

All he could do was wait till opportunity presented itself, or if not possible simply bide his time till rescue. A prospect that was increasingly more difficult to achieve waiting for with each passing hour. He much like most of his family wear people of action, so just sitting around was painful, especially when waiting involved watching his kid brother become a monster right in front of his eyes.

Speaking off.

A loud bang could be heard making the caption look around and he saw that his brother had returned with a few vehicle mounted weapons in his tendtreals around him. This thought made him worried as just one of those big guns could cause all sorts of damage and he had close to a dozen. It also made him wonder where he keeps getting them all as the military would catch on after a while if he was stealing from them.

He watched as he placed each on down in a crate before filling said creat with padding and other things in between the weapons with his regular hands. When he finished he was about to leave before stopping in his tracks. He stayed like that for a moment before turning round looking directly back at him with his two glowing red eyes. His body turned slowly to face him before walking towards him.

Each step was painful to both watch and listen to as he could hear the mechanical noises made from his cybernetics. His breathing sounding like the lead villain in a space opera with his assisted breathing. His movements wear smooth, too smooth and robotic as he came closer. Though what hurt more was that look he had, or rather lack their off as he always wore his mask, that evil looking mask to hide from the world.

When he got with arm's length he stopped and stared at him for a bit. "I would ask if you are….'inhale'...'exhale'... Comfortable. but I already know the answer to that. So…. 'inhale' ….. 'exhale' …. What is on your ….. 'Inhale'... 'exhale' ….. Mind?" he asked his robotic and artificial voice still sending chills down his spine.

Zakeria wanted to look away, look away and forget what his brother had become, what he is becoming. He could not though as a member of the french military he needed answers so that if he did escape he was not empty handed. Even just a little bit of information would help his superiors if he could get it.

Taking a deep breath to steal himself he looked at his brother determination in his eyes hoping to hide his fear of what the boy could do to him as he spoke. "What do you plan on doing with all these weapons? What's your goal? what do you hope to gain?" he asked his voice sounded of accusation, for it was he was still burning with rage for what happened to alex and he could barely contain it in his presence.

But the answer he received would something he hoped he never hear in his life time. "Hupf, is that…. 'Inhale'... 'Exhale' … all? I was expecting more from, 'inhale' ..'exhale' you." he said his breathing rate increasing. "But... if you must know…. 'Inhale' …. 'Exhale'... it is for my master…..I am...'inhale'...preparing for the... 'exhale' war."


	18. Chapter vi holiday wishes and lists

yes I am aware this is vary late and the the writing style is a bit different again but what can you do. anyway I won't dawdle enjoy this next chapter the next will be coming soon enough.

It was a cold winter's day in the city of love, white roofs and frosty windows lind the streets as passers by got ready for the holidays with their loved ones. Couples walked through the rows of shops hand in hand or in the parks admiring the beauty of the ice in the trees the shined like a thousand stars in the light or the things in the windows for sale. Children played with their friends throwing snow or building forts, sledding down the hills or begging for pre Christmas treats with their parents. With said parents trying to keep with their children and keep them contained till the holidays in just a few day's.

This all coincided with the snow that was cleaned from the previous storm had long been to allow free travel through the city, the roads salted and practically scrapped clean to show the black tar of the streets. This made it largely easier for pedestrians to get to and from work, school and their shopping done. Not only that it would also make people's life easier as they attempted to make their way to their holiday destinations with only christmas a twelve day charol away.

So it only made scenes that another another sudden downpour of snow came in last night from a sudden cold front that came in from an ocean storm that had hit the cost a few days ago. This meant that once again people wear delayed on their way to work or school, with the later being called with one a day left before the christmas brake starting and tomorrow being the weekend anyway. Leaving many parents wondering what to do with their kids while trying to get to work or their holidays planed.

Inside the bakary on the other hand work had been on an incline as more and more people came to get bread and other things for the slew of chrislams parties that wear going to be coming. Some wear even coming in to get things for their trips as they ether left town or the country for the holidays to be with friends and family. And no one could seemingly resist the temptation of fresh baked bread and pastries before their long trips or holidays. And who could blame them as them as it was well known that the dupanchanges had arguably the best bread in the city and any who tried it would be hard pressed to say otherwise.

However above the bakery it was business not as usual. with just under two weeks before christmas and only a week and a half before the dupanchange christmas party. Their wear throw pillows on the couch and chairs, covers places on their backs with green and red or blue with snowflakes. The kitchen towels and an plain clear, black or white cups and jars wear replaced, the jars for things like flower, cereal, cookies or other thing now looked like snowman santa claus and ms claus along with elves and reindeer. The table now had a lovely lavender table cloth with a number of christmas phrases in several languages like "merry christmas, may all your day's be white, may all your troubles be miles away," and many more all hand stitched in a lovely gray white thread that accented the fabric very well. All this painted a clear picture to adrien that this family really loved christmas and he honestly couldn't blame them. And this was just the kitchen and living room.

Upstairs meanwhile marinette was hard at work trying to get her work done before the holidays who was falling vary far behind in her work. Part of her falling behind was due to the visit with a recently back in country nino who finally got back from his anime convention tour. While the visit from nino was nice and all the progress with adrien was good it let her become complacent with her work causing her to slack off. This meant no rest for marinette who was still behind on nearly two dozen last minute items that had to be mailed out before the weeks end tomorrow. And now she was paying for her tardiness with a half dozen sore fingers and lost sleep as she toiled away at her sewing machine. With at least at least one more overnighter the poor blue bell had her work cut out for her.

This massive workload caused the living room to be abuzz with hum of a sewing machine and the beating of bolts of fabric and a constant stream of complaints from marinette when she kept sticking herself with pin and needles. Though it was not for nought as she had already finished three hats and two scarves and it wasn't even noon yet so she had a good chance to making it, granted she had been working since ten that morning due to not waking to her alarm she was starting to fray at the seams ironically from all the shouting and occasional cursing.

After waking up she all but charged upstairs to start working with vigor and something was telling adrien it was going to be him sleeping on the couch tonight they way she was going. Not that he minded he had already all but taken over her room for the last few weeks? Months? Honestly adrien had lost all track of time for a long time and hadn't bothered keeping track of time since his phone got stolen from him by a mugger in his first month on the streets.

Meanwhile with marinette occupying the bedroom upstairs a much healthier blond was sitting in the kitchen at the table. Adrien was having a much better time of things as he helped sabine get the house ready for the holidays. Being given small jobs he could do in his still weakened frame kept him from feeling like dead weight.

He sat at the table in his pajamas a nice blue pair that sabine had found by accident in the spare room. And while not even reaching his ankles being to short it was nothing a set of socks and a blanket couldn't fix. As one was wrapped around his legs and feet to keep them from getting cold. He sat at the kitchen table with his chair slightly off from the table with two chairs to his left while the table was to his right. Upon both chairs was a plastic tout box, the first and closest box contained several stacked layers of ordoment bulbs each one held in by a cardboard honeycomb frame that separated them but they all contained a thin layer of dust and grim. The second box was much like the first but while the first was about three quarters full of dirty bulbs the second box was mostly empty with only a few layers but each bulb was clean. As adrien sat up in the kitchen chair on his own happy to no longer be taking life laying down any longer. He even now he occasionally touched his skin to feel how clean he was still in disbelief when he woke up every morning that he no longer woke up in a dirty alley and got to bathe again.

Today thought was an especially good day for him as he felt better then he had in years, despite his body being weak and heavy his heart felt lighter and it showed. His face regained a great deal of color having almost completely returned to normal. He had lost nearly all trace of his once ill ridden body and the marinade of scraps and small infections that wracked him from before. And while he was still extremely thin he was no longer skin draped over bones as he finally started showing some groth. The constant stream of rich chinese food and rich decadent pastries saw to that.

Like the big plate of cookies, croissants and macaroons left over from the rejects bin this morning piled nearly an inch high stalked on a plate shaped like a three sphere snowman. All topped of with a large green mug with red handle full of sweet steaming hot chocolate to wash them down. And while they may not have been sellable by professional standards adrian was not going to say no. with all the food and treats that the married pair had practically thrown at him over his stay since he was strong enough to stomach them he may have to go on a diet before long. Not that it would be a bad thing if he could keep eating their pastries he would suffer through a dieting.

Picking up a rich chocolate cookie in hand still soft and fresh having only come out of the oven mear hours before as it compressed to his touch. While it was left unfrosted due to become an odd lumpy crescent moon shape in the oven, something that happens now and then given the volume they bake each day. Adrian did not care as he brought it to his lips and bit into it sending a serge of rich chocolate tase across his tongue. The taste was enough to make his almost squeal in delight, almost. He would have to remember to ask marinette her secret for not getting over wight with a room full of these things downstairs as he set what was left of the cookie back down as he returned to his work again.

Above him the patterning of the needle of a sewing machine rang true in the ears of those in the living room as marinette worked tirelessly in her room with the trap door open for ventilation. The sound was strange to adrian's ears having never heard or seen someone actually working on a sewing machine before so much and for so long before not even at his tailorings for shoots. However he was assured that it was normal by sabine despite his reservations about it.

Picking up his cloth again doing his best to ignore the sounds of marinette above not wanting to bother her. Taking the cloth in his right hand before picking up a shiny clear bulb with his left though he had to hold in a laugh at what he saw. It was a photo of a toddler marinette rested inside, her hair short almost making her look like a boy she wore a pink dress that went just past her knees, short sleeves that went to just above the elbow with white trim around the bottom, the ends of the sleeves and around the neck and a small red button at the neck likely to open the small neck for the head.

But in her hands however she had a large pink and yellow basket in her hands with a large number of plastic eggs in it of various colors and sizes. Along with a number of chocolates and jelly beans sitting on a bed of green paper grass. Upon her head she wore a headband that was white in the shape of bunny ears. A smile was upon her face the toothy grin was large and wide but with several holes their her two front teeth along with several others wear absent. Her cheeks covered in a bright pink making her look flush while red spots covered her face..

The picture was clearly from easter and judging from the number four on the side painted on in marinette's favorite shade of pink she was about four years old when the photo was taken. The picture was precious as he stared at the child that would one day be his figurative and literal savyour upstairs. It put a small smile on his face looking at the happy little girl who looked back at the camera with carless a smile. A warm glow filled his chest at the happy sight before him into this window of the past. Though he would have to remember to ask who she was missing so many teeth and about the spots later.

As he brought the rag to wipe away the thin sheen of dust that adorned the bulb he looked over to the other boxes of ornaments he was taking out to clean. It was a simple task one that he did not mind as he did it and looked at the ornaments many of which held family photos in them. The job was long as he washed down each item some of them being old or even handmade from many years past making the job harder and longer as they had to be cleaned with care. That was fine as it was the least he could do for the dupan changs hospitality.

He he was just glad he could work sitting down as he still couldn't stand under his own power yet and likely wouldn't for a while. He could still do work as he sat at the kitchen table wiping down all the decorations for the holidays, just sitting down. It was still frustrating that he literally had to take life sitting down but what could he do, his legs would not support his weight on their own. Letting out a sigh at the thought as he was entirely dependent on the strength of others to live till his strength fully returned. 'Still I can't complain I suppose at least doing chores is better then laying in a ditch or in an alleyway somewhere.' he thought to himself positively. His life was not ideal but it he would take it over what he had. "No point in thinking about it." he said to himself as he got back to work.

The past few days wear truly eventful compared to when he first came around. Wear as before he was bedridden and could barely hold his head up, now sabine the resident mother hen had been setting him up with small odd jobs around the house to keep him busy throughout the day.

Like helping with invitations for the party, helping ms chang sabine with cooking by picking herbs or peeling things and the like, and helping sort through junk they had been meaning to get rid of from the spare room so the could clean it out.

In sabines own words "we had been meaning to do it for years now just never got around to it case one thing or another always got in the way.". Their seemed to be a few more reasons that they weren't telling him though but that didn't bother him. It didn't bother him they wear piling work on him as he enjoyed liked feeling useful again after being essential an involeit for so long. Ever since he had been able to move unassisted baring walking he felt useless being unable to contribute to his hosts who so graciously had been helping him. So while the current task was far from the most glamorous job he had ever had he was more than pleased with himself to just be of some practical use. And it beat being a model by a long shot as while being in front of a camera wasn't so bad he hated the limelight, while sure he loved attention there was a difference.

Busying himself with his dusting setting down the last bulb wanting to remember to ask grabbed another one from the box this one not as bad as the last with the clear surface only mard by a slight bit of dust. Looking at the number on the side seeing a number one in the same blue as marinette and her mothers eyes told him it was a from when marinette was a baby. Turning the orb to see the photo photo so see a much younger m's changs holding a infant marinette swaddled in a pink blanket fast asleep while her mother sat at a table with a cake with a single candle on top. All the while marinette was fast asleep her small pink face completely gone to the world while her mother had a happy but seemingly embarrassed face. It was clear they wear trying to celebrate marinette's birthday, the only problem was she was fast asleep and judging from her mother's reaction could not be woken.

Adrien had to stifle a laugh at this as he looked to the picture before him. He knew for the longest time that marinette had a bad habit of over sleeping, however he just always assumed it was because she did not go to bed on time or had trouble sleeping. When in reality she was just a heavy sleeper even back in the day. Even this morning she overslept and only woke when he accidentally stumbled when being brought down to use the bathroom and eat. "Oh marinette." he said fondly a large smile on his face as it was impossible not to fine her habits amusing.

Raising his rag he quickly got back to work on the bulb covering the spear in the cloth before pulling away and placing the bulb into the clean box. He would have to start reminding himself to only wash not look as he cleaned or he would never get his work done given how he had three more boxes to go through. And that was provided they didn't have more to clean when he was done with these boxes, plus he half expected that sabine wanted to decorate a tree soon given how she was talking about tom picking one up.

And despite the decorations and ornaments being in boxes many of them wear quite dusty and many needed a fair amount of time cleaning before being placed in the clean side to be hung up or stored away again. As he placed the newest ornament in the clean boxe now half way full he knew sabine would come back up from the bakery now and then to look through them to sort through them to decide which ones she was going to use this year and which to put back away having explained the process already. Thought she would also take this time to compliment his work as well regardless of the chore when she checked up on him.

Speaking of checking in nino and alya had made frequent visits in the last week since the surprise reveal they did for nino, nino more so having not much to do with no gigs on schedule for a while till after the new year with the convention season being over for a few months. Which was good for adrain to gain some normalcy in his life, not to mention it was good to see nino again after so long. Doing little things like chores dispute many of them being long and boring, 'which he supposed is why they wear called chores' however he felt normal for the first time in his life he felt normal and not like a lonely prince on a thrown. Doing these chores made him feel like an ordinary person despite his circumstances and besides he figured it was only fair he did sorta owe it to the dupan change for all they had done for him. For saving his literal life he figured doing some meaneal task was the least he could do.

Thought while he did not feel like he was doing much whenever one of the dupan changs seen him working they always praised him like he had won a huge aware or money. there praise was far too much in his mind as all he did was things like folding towels or like right now dusting he never did much of anything of note, and yet he would admit it felt….nice to be given such praise even for such a meaningless thing as dusting. It reminded him of the old day's when his mother was with him while his father was busy at work. She would have him pick out all his favorite ornaments from their packages while she would tell him christmas stories related to the ornaments. All the while she would have him put the ornaments on the tree even picking up up so he could put them up on the higher tires of the tree.

It was a happy memory when his family was whole and happy before he lost his mother and his father turned cold. When he was younger he didn't get out much, with his father's work at the company and his mothers work as an actress he didn't have an easy childhood as his parents rarely had time to take him out like most kids. Combine that with his mother's obsessive fans made for a somewhat dangerous childhood. Honestly till after his mother disappeared the on again off again status of his mothers mega fans made it hard going outside his mansion walls without being bombarded by people who wanted to talk to him about his mother. Not to mention his mother's four stalkers over the years practically scaring his parents into nearly sending him away for his safety after the crazed man broke in the last time.

Despite all these problems with his life due to his parents status he was in fact happy being homeschooled wasn't that bad before. His mother would always bring him things from her trips she would take to exotic places for her shoots, sometimes even taking him with for mother son time between takes or after filming on sight ended. His father would often come home with samples of the latest lines for them to try out and even keep when he could. Even going so far as to tailoring a dress while his mother was home for her anniversary, doing all the work by hand. Other times his father would come to him and play games with him and even laugh with him when they attempted something in his schooling when his schedule allowed it. But they always made time to watch his mother's newest films together as a family. Those wear happy times.

However while those memories once brought joy now he only felt feelings of bitterness and sorrow as they reminded him of what he lost. Now the times that the dupan chang have given him reminded him a bit of how things used to be before his mother disappeared. And if only for a moment when sabine came in to urge him on and speak with him he could forget about what happened and just pretend that it was his own mother and not sabine. For a moment he was back home with his own family.

He was broken from these thoughts when he heard a loud "OW!" from upstairs making him look towards the trap. It was the voice of marinette crying out in pain and shock from something, immediately his mind feared what could have happened. 'Did she fall and hurt herself? Did she sew her fingers? Did she sit on a needle and get it embeded an inch into her tailbone?'….. That last one adrien cringed at from an old memory especially as he may have caused that to happen once before. When he was young playing with his father's pin cushion when he was doing work at home…. His father wouldn't speak to him for two week after this accident happened, partly because he spent the first week in hospital.

He put the rang down and the ordimont he was mindlessly holding down ready to go up and check on her bracing his hands on the arm rest to life himself up to stand... But then he stopped it was then he realized that standing was not possible on his own power. He let out a grown as his gaze looked up desperately to the open trap door wishing nothing more then to check on her. He knew how accident prone she was and was worried for her. As the seconds ticked by he angsity rose in his chest as the silence from marinette persisted leaving him worried something was wrong.

"Oh my seems like she was carless from being in a hurry again." he heard beside him suddenly as a hand was placed on his shoulder from behind. Jumping slightly turning his round to his right nearly turning out of his chair having to grab the table to keep from falling out and casing the blanket around his waist and legs to fall. sabine standing beside him looking back towards him with a surprised expression on her face quickly placing a hand over her mouth in shock letting out a squeak of surprise.

"Oh sorry I didn't mean to startle you!" she said frantically a look of embarrassment on her face as she tried to give an apology clearly feeling guilty for tightening him. She was wearing a nice clean white pull over sweater and a set a gray pants. Her face a tint of red to them from the shock and embarrassment she now faced from the incident. A few moments later her heart right begin to drop as her breath slowed from taking a few deep breaths. After getting herself under control again her mouth opened slightly as if to speak before stopping a moment. She stayed like this only a moment though as only another moment later she spoke. "I so sorry adrien I had thought you had heard me come in. I even called your name but clearly you didn't hear me. I'll try to be more careful next time" he said more calmly.

It took adrien a few moments to register what she had said before responding, he was so used to being alone on the streets avoiding people that the very idea of someone apologising to him was foreign. Last time someone tried they saw his face and attacked him before they could finish. " o'h it's alright I'm fine" he confessed still somewhat embarrassed he could tell by the heat in his cheeks.….I just did not hear you coming." he said muttering the last part slightly embarrassed himself.

Adrien meanwhile was having an internal panic attack having not even noticed her returning casing him to jump at her sudden appearance not even scenes her. If he wear being honest he was greatly embarrassed as he had not realized his seces had gotten so dull. So much so that he had not even noticed her pressences even when she was right behind him, when before he would have noticed a pin drop.

Before adrien stopped being cat noir and gave it up for his health he would have noticed before she even made it half the way up the stairs. Now though he was unable to hear her, smell her as weird as it was in the past, nor had this scenes when something he could see was moving. He was no longer strong or fast, nor did he have his old durability he was just an involet and not chat noir anymore, not his old self.

A large frown upon his face as he thought of his other self, his old self, the self that made him parise's number one young model for so long, his self that made him the number two hero of paris. His fame was gone along with his wealth, house and pretty much everything else. Gone. the people who once would do anything to just meet him, now would likely do anything to kill him. And those that respected him would never trust him even if their lives depended on it. And he could not longer wield the power of the black cat the once respected hero was now just a paperweight he though depressed.

their was also his family he thought making ice form round his heart...it was gone too. His mother was dead, and his father…...he honestly was not sure anymore if he even was his father any more. Or if his father died long ago and all that remained was an empty shell that looked like him. In the end it really did not matter did it, whatever specifically cased his father to become what he was, was meaningless. In the end his father was driven mad by his mother's assumed death, that was all their was to say.

In essences everything that made him a hero was gone and all that was left was plain old adrien. No super power without the ring which if he was lucky would find a new owner soon. No money or wealth to support anyone much less himself. And no family to call his own any more, and the so called extended family disowned him faster than then they would call their lawyers to write him and his father out of their wills.

Head slumping depressive as he mind took in all that he was, or rather wasn't. What was their left to him that marinette and her family still saw in him, what did anyone see in him aside from debt or pitty. There was nothing to him now beside that, and unless he got his strength back their was little he could do outside of tasks like dusting. The more he thought about it the he was more like a pet then a person more usable for entertainment rather then being of any real use.

"Adrian?"

"Huh?!" he voiced his head shooting back up and turning to face sabine who was now bent over with a hand on his shoulder looking at him head on now at his level. He looked at her concern was raised in her eyes as she looked back to him. "I called your name several times dear. I are you alright? Are you not feeling well? You do need to lay down" she asked and if her worry was in question before it most certainly was not now.

"Y-ya I'm fine why do you ask?" he said before feeling the tightness in his hands making him look down to see that he was clenching his hands into balled fists causing them to turn white with broken plastic inside with the easter picture of the family in his lap. His face paled before looking back to sabine with a sad look on his face "I, I I'm so sorry!" he voiced in horror at the damage he caused. I was just…..." he said before stopping closing his mouth not sure what else to say as he turned to face away from the mother..

A moment later adrien felt sabines hand grip his shoulder tighter making him worry that he was going to get a earful from ms chang for breaking the ornament. He was not sure when he took it as he was sure that he hadn't moved since sabine aprotched him. Bot none of the that mattered now as it now lay destroyed by his own hand. The dark seeping in his heart 'am I truly such a heartless person?' he wonders dismally having clearly let his emotions get the better of him, even if unknowingly.

Closing his eyes adrien just wanted to world to go away or the world to make him disappear. No matter what he did or what happened things always seemed to go wrong for him and everyone involved. All adrien wanted was to find some peace away from all the bad that his father cased, and now he himself is casing. Was it too much to ask to just find a little happiness?

Doing his best to shut out the world not wanting to be in it anymore feeling useless and being a burden. But then then adrien felt a gently touch on his chin opening his eyes in surprise as he felt a pull. He knew what this pull was and didn't want it but also didn't fight it ether. His head was pulled by sabines hand to face her, adrien wanted to look away but something about the way she looked at him made adrien stop.

Her face held a look not of hate or anger but rather her face held the look of concern, but real motherly concern. She is not upset rather worried for him a frown creasing her lips, he eyes down cast saddened and worried. Adrien is too stunned to look away and for a moment he can see not the face of anger but of worry she was genuinely worried for him. Even before his father was revealed to be hawk moth he rarely showed and concern for his well being, and when he did it was almost always a distant worry because he was an asset not truly fatherly concern.

It was then that he lost himself instead of seeing the face of the ms chang adrien saw a long flow of golden hair, lightly colored skin, emerald green eyes and a perfect smile. To many she would appear to have the face of an angle. But to adrien he knew this face as someone else, his mother.

His mouth opened slightly to speak but no words come out as he simple gazes upon the face he missed so much. Adrien couldn't believe his eyes as the the very green eyes he inherited stared back at him. Glancing around the room he was no longer in the dupan chang residence but in the foyer sitting in the stairs with his mother she in front of him talking to him in a voice that to adrien was sweet as honey. While adrien heard her voice he heard no words rather just the thought of her being there was enough.

He felt a wetness around his eyes that soon fills up and spills out and falls down his cheeks. The reaction from his mother's face was imediat one of concern like before but he couldn't form words or thoughts as he was overwhelmed with the feelings of his mother being near him.

He then felt a good shake causing him to move and forcing him to blink, he blinked several times as his head was moved casing his vision to become blurry as his tears wear disturbed. When he finally he seen that he was back in the dupan changs kitchen dining room area and in front of him was sabin not his mother. Now though her face was practically on the brink of panic as she said his name huradly.

"Adrien, adrien, adrien." she asked repeatedly as she shook him only stopping she seen that he was paying attention to her. A look of relief grace he face as she noticed he was paying attention once more are you alright?" she asked worried as adrien began to notice that she hand placed her hands on his shoulders to keep him from falling. "you spaced out for a while I was worried you wear going to faint. Are you feeling light headed dear?" she asked much more calmly before raising a hand off his right shoulder and wiping some stray hair out of his face.

Adrien takes a moment to get ahold of himself and realizes that he is trembling and that his eyes are sore from the deluge of tears that wear still falling into his lap making his skin wet wear they landed. Raising a shaky hand to his face to touch at one of the streams of his face almost in disbelief.

Before he could ask his ears picked up the subtle sounds of marinette's sewing matching upstairs pattering away loudly. She must have been so in to her work that combined with the noise she hadn't heard anything adrien resoned. He then put his attention back to sabine who was starting to look panicked again likely due to not answering her question which made guilt return in his body. Feeling that familiar heavy cold feeling he felt when he felt ashamed of something he had done.

"Ya I'm fine sorry... I guess I spaced out for a moment on you. Sorry." adrien said sounding disappointed in himself. But sabine took this as a good sign as she began to smile raising her right hand up she began to wipe the tears from his face. He knew it was wrong to enjoy such a thing but the little gesture made him happy and could help himself but rpress into her touch a bit casing a small laugh to escape her lips. He checks flared a bit but he said nothing still slightly embarrassed by this action.

Once his tears were gone and she wiped up the mess she took and leaned back a bit to evaluate him. She gave an approving smile before speaking lets get you laid down, I think you have done enough today. Besides you still need rest if you want to recover." she reasoned to him. And while adrien knew this wasn't true he had not the strength to argue or disagree with the mother. Instead he let himself be lead as she used her own strength to lift him out of the chair so she could lead him to the living room couch.

While it took a few minutes to get his feet to cooperate without stumbling on them adrien was soon laid on the couch with the blanket around him up to his chest and a throw pillow under his head. As he laid he could hear sabine talking as she cleaned up the ornaments and commented on how he got through a large amount of them and cleaned them so carefully. He knew she was stretching the truth a bit….or a lot, but barring the broken one she seemed happy with hi work at least. Though adrien supposed she could just be hiding her disappointment in him, it wouldn't be the first time as his father did it a lot.

Eventually the noise from the kitchen subsided and the debris wear swept up and thrown away into the trash. He then heard her footsteps returning he immediately felt a pit forming in his stomach as he worried that he was going to get that chewing out. He did deserve this he knew but after dealing with his father for so long it made it hard not to dread such a punishment.

When she arrived to the side of the couch he noticed she was holding a small piece of what looked like paper and smiling at it fondly. He wanted to ask what it was but thought better of it still having guilt nagging at him from breaking the bulb. So ash sabine sat down on the arm rest by his feet he took a breath to steady himself 'better to get this over with and except the wound now so it can heal faster.

He opened his mouth to speak but his mouth went dry unable to speak suddenly. Closing his mouth he licked his lips wetting them down and trying to wet down his mouth with saliva. He opened his mouth to speak again but the words once again escaped him and refused to come out. Making a small grown that remains unheard at his ineptitude utter out a simple apology. Finally he decided to just saying quickly was the best option so taking one more steading breath he opened his mouth and.

"I'm sorry." he said quickly just wanting to get it out causing her to turn her head looking confused. "What?" she questioned unsure sabine gazed at him for several long moments like he had suddenly gained a new head and was some sort of anomaly. "I'm sorry adrien, but what are you apologising for for." she asked after a few moments sounding more amused like he had just told her a joke rather then an apology.

It was now adriens turn to look at her with bemusement making him sity up supporting his own wight again as she practically laughed away his apology away. "ah...I…. I am apologising for breaking the christmas ornament." This however only seemed to amuse her furtheras she let out a chuckle. This only confused him more and even more baffling as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "I...I am sorry Its just I was surprised you wear apologizing for breaking that old thing. "Sigh".

Sabine then got up from wear she sat and sat down in front of were his head rested on the throw cushion on the other armrest. "Adrien was that what was bothering you so much that you practically fainted that you broke an ornament?" she asked in a kind calm voice the bled with empathy. Adrien wanted to answer no as he not only broke it he didn't even realizes that he broken it while he was in his own fantasy.

Instead of answering he simply looked away unable to look back at sabine, but not a moment later he felt the same kind hand under his chin once more. He wanted to just disappear he was so confused on the inside wondering to what end did their kindness stretch. "why? " he asked himself "why do they care so much, friends or not why do they treat me like this?"

Once again he couldn't fight the pull and she moved him to face her and like before her kind smile never fading. "Adrien believe me when I say this your not in trouble. Do you know how many of those things I have broken just moving the boxes." she said with a short laugh. "The ornament is sentimental but only them memory inside it matters, I can always replace the ornament. The memory however can't be broken." she said calmly before for turning the paper so he could see to reveal the easter photo from before. "These are what matter most." she finished removing her hand from his chin and resting it on his hand left hand that face towards her giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Now tell me." she began regaining his attention "why would you think you wear in trouble, you clearly were not feeling well, so it wasn't your fault." she asked. Adrien would have cringed at the answer if he wasn't good at hiding his emotions. He wasn't sick in honesty he was not sure why he grabbed and broke the

"My father would." adrien muttered quietly but clearly not quite enough for the mother not to hear. But seeing her expression darken she clearly did hear him, "and what would your father do?" she asked in a serious tone her kind voice wavering not a moment later after he muttered his reply.

He wanted to lie to tell her that it was nothing, that he was just exaggerating but after being friends with marinette for so long and having met her parents he highly doubted she would believe him. Not to mention even if she blindly believed most of what he told her he doubted that would extend to his father anyway given his reputation.

Sighing in defeat adrien knew he couldn't hide it forever and relented , 'this explains wear marinette gets her persistence from' he thought to himself as he admitted defeat. "My father would have locked me in the house and given me extra lessons or work as a form of discipline. And prevent me from spending time how I want till he deemed I learned my lesson." he explained depressing. "Sometimes this would only last a few hours, other times a few weeks depending on what I did or refused to do for him." he further added as he remembered a time when he lived with his father.

Adrien remembered one time in particular when he had accidentally walked in on a meeting in his father's office. This happened a short time after his mother vanished and his father began to grow bitter. The meeting was only halted for a few moments and the person he was meeting with had not taken offense to it stating that he even had children and knew what it was like. But his father was not so easily amused by this as the moment the meeting ended he forbade him from leaving hom for a week and doubled his work load as punishment.

Sabine grimanced at his tale clearly displeased at what his father considered discipline. While true if adrien maybe broke the bulb purpose then sure that would be punishable, but it was clear that to her that he mostly did it by accident as he seemed to her to be under emotional stress at the time.

Letting out a heavy sigh the mother realized that it was not just his body that needed mending nore was it just fear like when he ran. No he was suffering from internal pain and depression, the kind of depression from guilt and blaming oneself for an act that may not have even been his fault adrien was blaming himself for his father's miss deeds feeling like it was his own fault for not stopping his father. 'This boy is going to require so much love and attention to heal' she thought to herself realizing how much he loathed himself. "Well, I suppose there's no time like the present." she mused happily already excited for all that she had in mind.

"Adrien" she began softly and slowly to make sure she still had his attention, she waited till she received a reluctant nod from the blond before continuing. "you have been through so much, but you need to learn that not everything is your fault. It was not your fault your father turned out the way he did, as it's also not your fault he hurt so many people. None of that was your fault, he made the decision to harm those people on his own your not to blame for them." she said softly without a hint of anything but sincerity.

The much to adriens surprise sabine brought both her arms around his neck in a warm loving embrace making his eyes go wide. His head in the cruck on her left side siling sitting half sideways as she hugged him his arms hanging lamp at his sides. He wanted to tell her enough not wanting to bother her more then he had already or hold her up any longer then he already had.

But then she spoke to him in his ear "the world has been so unfair to you. but you don't need to worry. You lost you family and it still hurts, but we can be your new family if you just let us. Even though you have let others in you still hold them at arm's length to shield yourself in case your hurt again. I heard about your mother from alya and I may not be your mother nore am I trying to replace her. But as far as I am concerned you are already like a child to me so if ever you need me all you need to do is ask." she said quietly in his ear in a low calm voice.

Adrien was quite for a time making sabine wonder if he was going to respond when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her neck. She then began to hear the hacking of sobbs starting to emanate from the boy in her arms. The mother was surprised by this but soon just smiled and began to gently rub circles in the boys back. As she did this sabine could hear adrien muttering "thank you, thank you." as weaks of frustration at his abilities, and being trapped inside, along with the frustration at his father's actions finally found their way out.

"Their, their adrien. Let it out it's not good holding all of it in. just let out you will feel better when it's all over." she said sweetly to the boy. She knew she should head back down and help tom but for now she was needed here. He would understand. She would also need to talk to tom latter about this and how the planed on helping adrien given how they couldn't take him out of the house to see a therapist. 'Maybe alya would know someone who could help with her connections. It wouldn't hurt to ask at least' she thought to herself. 'In any case right now what he needs is a mother's touch.' she concluded as she began rubbing his head like she would for marinette when she was hurting.

Letting out a sight and looking up towards the ceiling, while not facing towards marinette's room she could not help but think of the girl in moments like this. 'This brings back memories.' remembering the times when marinette was hurting fondly, despite the pain involved she wouldn't trade the times they spent together.

So as she cradled the weeping adrien she knew that helping him through is pain here family was in for the long haul. But that was what family was for, and if he didn't have one before he would now. After all looking back down to the distraught boy in her arms 'he has been so good to marinette it's the least we can do.' she thought happily. 'It will be hard to get through this but so long as we are together that is all that matters.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

In marinette's room.

Marinette was frantic...no frantic was mild she was losing her mind as she only had one day to finish like a dozen things and mail them out so they would arrive on time for christmas. And she had already broken a sewing needle,had to take apart an item twice, but also accidently stabbed herself with a needle in the leg seven times. And she thought she was supposed to have good luck.

"Sigh." letting out a breath of displeasure as she tried her best to not literally lose her mind from the workload. She had been at it since like nine ten thanks to waking up late, had no breakfast and was running out of fabric. "AHHHHHHHHHHH. Why can' this fa."

"Luangue marinette! I won't have such words used in my house!" a shout from her mother coming from the floor below making her clasp a hand over her mouth. When had mama returned?' her mind wandered as she realized she had almost swared in the presence of her mother. A very big mistake on her part, one that was punishable unless she got luck and her mama forgot.

Flopping down on her sewing table in defeat knowing that not only did she need to start a hat all over again. She also got busted for accidentally using language knowing her mother and father don't allow it in the house. "Thank you allah for getting me corrupted after taking me to that stupid club." she complained out loud. And that was forgetting at this rate would never been done in time.

"KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK"

"Huh? She mouthed turning her head to look at her window only to see much to her surprise a little green kwami outside. "WA-" she begins to say in surprise only to cover her mouth again before she said anything her mother could over hear. "Wayzz, what are you doing her." she whispered confused by his sudden appearance only to get no response as he couldn't hear.

Sitting in her chair for a few more moments in silent wonder and worry as fu only sent wayzz out in an emergency. She silently dreaded what message of doom and trouble he would bring her this time as last time she got a message from him was…...when they found out who hawk moth was…. . fu and finally come up with an idea for tracking the super villain and she met up to find out what he had. After that everything went downhill pretty fast.

As she fell in to a line of depressed thinking wayzz could be heard tapping the window again. She knew that she had to let him in before anything else happened or her mother came up to ask what all the noise was from. Walking to the large windows at the far end of her room wear wayzz waited and as she approached she noticed something off about him, namly what he was holding. Namly the little green alien turtle spirit looked like he was holding a letter of all things in his hands while also battling the wind which blew much harder up high.

Going to the window and opening it just a crack large enough for wayzz to enter without casing a draft so her mama and adrien would notice. And no sooner did she open the window wayzz entered in a hurry clearly not liking the cold vary much. He made a disgruntled blowing noise as he shook himself and casing a small hat of snow to fall off his head to the ground.

"Wayzz." marinette said not wasting a single moment wanting to get to the bottom of her encounter getting his immediate attention. "What are you doing here, fu only sends you out in emergency's." she states quickly while minding her volume. By this point she was practically bristling for an answer wanting to get to the bottom of why the kwami was hear and what she needed to be ready for.

However just as wayzz's was about to answer he closed his mouth and looked around as if unsure of himself. "Wear is your partner tikki?" he asked in bemusement "is she not here." he inquired.

Marinette was about to brush it off but had to remind herself that tikki was a secret and couldn't talk about it. It was sometimes hard to remember that people or kwami like wayzz knew about tikki and would ask about her and it was ok to speak with him. " asleep. She is fine just tired, this time of year is really hard for her as the power of creation is weakest in winter." she explains simply getting a nod from wayzz. "Plus she has been using a lot of her power to help heal adrien and needs her rest."

Wayzz seemed to understand this giving a hum of understanding clearly understanding the situation. each kwami had a time of weakness when their powers are at their lowest. His own powers wear weakest in summer when the weather was its hottest and water losses straight to fire and earth.

Regardless of tikki being present he had a job to do and he would complete it. "Oh right master sent me to give you this." he said as he hoisted the letter up higher making her re examine it. The letter was plain just a simple white envelope. The thing that did set it apart though was the very distinctive red wax seal on the front of the letter that bore a simple hawaiian flower.

While most people would not think much of it she knew that this belonged to master fu he even showed her the seal he used before just in case. Some might think that he would use guardian seal which he did have but he never used it to took anyone who was searching for the miraculous to find.

Taking the letter from the green kwami she analyzed the letter carefully before returning her gaze back to wayzz. "Wear is the master any way? Why wouldn't he just send this himself or just send it through the mail?" admittedly it was a silly question wayzz could make the journey faster then master fu in his old age. But given the severity to what the letter may contain she had to know for sure.

"Unfortunately the master is gone he left about two weeks ago." wayzz commented a moment later. The words rang like a death nail in marinette ear's wishing she had not heard what he had just said. This immediately raised alarm bells knowing very well that fu would never leave his post unless it was an emergency. The only question was what? And she had a feeling that the letter would hold her answers, and she wouldn't like them.

"Wait?" she said pusing in thought making wayzz look at her confused "you said that fu gave you this two weeks ago right." she asked making him oddly. "Yes why do you ask?" he counter questioned wondering what she was thinking. "Then why are you just giving me this letter now instead of two weeks ago?" she questioned in an almost scolding way.

Wayzz seemed to grow smaller at this remark as he sank lower in the room under her gaze beginning to rub the back of his head and letting out a nervous laugh. "Well I'm sorry for the delay in my deliver marinette but I…..well…. Um?... Ah…." he tried to say sounding ever so nervous which only seemed to erk marinette even more. Given the severity of the situation she gave him a of her hand to tell him to go on tired of this stalling and wanting to get to the bottom of this. Seeing that he wasn't about to get out of it wayzz caved " you see. 'cough' with all the snow and the appearance of things changing…..not to mention a large number of signs being covered from the snow…..well I….got lost." he finally admitted.

Marinette raised an eyebrow at this causing him to laugh nervously again "you got lost?" was all marinette could say. Casing wayzz to just shrug unable to counter casing a grown from marinette to escape her lips. "I don't believe this." she said as she turned to walk away towards her desk leaving wayzz behind as she just needed a moment unable to believe everything that had been happening recently.

Wayzz cleared his throat politely before continuing "Unfortunately one thing plage is correct about is that I have a poor sense of direction." he admitted begrudgingly clearly disliking to admit that this plag person was right about something. If there was one thing though that was never a surprise to marinette at this point was that for every positive trate the kwami had their was always something that they wear bad at.

Letting out an exasperated sigh she picked up a exacto knife from her desk and hefted the short blade she used for cutting paper patterns. Sliding it under the opening slicing the paper envelope open in one swift motion before placing the knife down and opening it and taking out the letter inside. Setting the envelope down next and taking the letter out she unfolded the paper to reveal the fine handwriting of master fu. Some of it was a bit hard to read do to chinese being his native tongue not hers but she should make most of it out.

She could hear wayzz float up beside her as she began to look over the letter reading over her shoulder. From what she knew of wayzz he was arguably the most polite and well mannered of the kwami. So it was highly possible that this was the first time he was seeing what was in the letter as well as he would never open it or look into it before she opened it.

Dear marinette

"I am sorry for the abrupt nature of this calling and my sudden departure. I had to leave to do research on a very important matter to hopefully get to the bottom of something that I fear will affect us all worse then hawk moth if I am right."

This statement made marinette stop cold her blood freezing making her frightful of what was to come. Worse then hawk moth? Just hawk moth was bad enough on his own I don't want to imagine someone worse than him.'. The thought was truly terrifying to think about as hawk moth had nearly destroyed part of paris when he was on the ropes last time. If there was someone even worse out their…..well she hoped that master fu was wrong as she continued reading.

"I am going to a place to find answers to what I and wayzz have scenes recently and will be gone for a time. If you need any help at all just ask wayzz he will show you to the necessary information and help you in any way he can."

'Seemed good so far.'

"However I have a mission for you, wayzz, tikki, cat noir, and plagg. "

This last statement got her attention making her head shoot up in surprise as fu knew as well as she did that chat noir was was awol and had been for nearly two years if not two plus years now. Plus he never answer her calls or emails, never left a message, and heck at this point she would put up with his constant joking just to make sure he wasn't sleeping in a ditch. Heck she would rather him be a self absorbed person who was off doing his own thing like skiing given the time of year or maybe was a business owner now. Maybe with a wife and kid or heck she would even take him being a playboy just to know he was alright. She mostly just wanted to know he was ok but their was no point in dealing with that now. If she could find him she would relay the message but at this point she was not hopeful as she kept reading.

"I need the five of you keep an eye out for new candidates for the remaining miraculous. "

'Ok I was not expecting that'

"If I am right you will likely need all the help you can get in fighting off this threat, I have already given wayzz instructions for hiding the remaining five all you need to do is keep an eye out for those who are best suited. Give out test of character and responsibility to determine who is a good fit. Wayzz should already be on this by the time you read through this, and to speed things up I have a list of possible candidate at my home that you can use to start with to give you a head start."

"I made this list when battling hawk moth just in case we needed more allies or should one of you fall in battle and have your miraculous taken. While It may sound bad I had to prepare for the worst in case something happened. I am just thankful I haven't needed it till now."

"Once you have a candidate do not give them the miraculous unless its an emergency as I would prefer it if you wait till I get back to help over see things and help train the new recruits and not throw them in blind like I was forced to with you. I would like to if possible take the luxury to show them the ropes if I can but if worst come to worst I will understand you having to do what you must."

"Finally you must hide the miraculous in a place no one will find them till my return or till you have need of them. Only tell wayzz wear the hiding spot is and no one else as I can not risk anymore people knowing about the miracle box. You can not tell chat noir ether wear they are hidden unless you must for as of right now you are the temporary guardian of the miracle box and you must insure that it does not fall into the wrong hands. Cat noir may be willing to help guard the miraculous but his own innate curiosity and his desire to help others, his disregard for his own pride and shame, and his ability to act quickly make him a great cat noir. But these traits also make him overly curious and impatient at times when things are not their to occupy him. So while he is a great asset he can be his own worst enemy."

"Finally you marinette must use the book and learn all about your power and train as best you can when you have time. I know its a lot to ask but you need to learn to mast new powers if I am right. And it's high time you learn to use such abilities anyway now that their is time to learn them."

"I am sorry to ask so much of you but I fear time may be running short for us. I will send word as soon as I can, if I can. Till then protect the box and protect paris, and this goes without saying good luck."

"Sincerely wang fu."

Standing in place for several long seconds marinette tried to absorb the information given to her by the letter. Marinette knew tikki mentioned sense something dark recently, like in the ally or even near their home. She had hoped it was just chat but now she was not so sure anymore. And this letter only makes that fear of things even worse now. "Huh what have I gotten into this time." she said sounding exhausted like she had run a marathon after reading that letter.

"Well wayzz" marinette said turning to her newest guest "looks like we have are work cut out for us don't we." she only received a grim nod from the kwami in reply. Sighing was starting to become a recurring habit of her's one that she hoped to brake as she backing up and let herself fall into the chair.

"Agreed marinette, but you needn't worry you have all the knowledge I have and I have much at my disposal." sounding equally as grim as his face looked as the information they had read pretty much confirmed everything they feared. And you have cat noir, he always shows up when he is most needed." wayzz expressed sounding

"Until then I shall be offf-oof" he began to say to marinette before being blocked by a hand much larger than his whole body. The hand grasped round him firmly not tightly but held him fast un moving. Being pulled back towards marinette she gave him a sly smile in return one that spoke of ulterior motives. "Sorry wayzz." she started to say before bringing him to her sewing table"But I need some help if I'm ever going to get done before tomarrow so I can train and look over the miraculous. And since tikki is out for a while your going to help me.." she declared definitively. As he watched marinette glemm at him all wayz could do was glup as she transformed from eosted to battle ready for sewing.

"Oh dear" was all wayzz could say.

MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW-MEOW

Else wear in paris

Sitting in solitude at a desk filled with drawings of dresses suits and butterflies was gabriel agreste. He sat alone in quit isolation a regular occurrence since his incarceration, in fact if one wear to ask he could count the number of times he had been let out in the last two years of his cell on one hand since he went into solitary. Not that it bothered him as in solitary it meant there was no one to bother you or your work. Not to mention it meant there was no one to look over your shoulder when doing secret work like he was right now.

If one wear to look at him or his desk one might assume he was working on a new fashion line, one he would never finish. And given how he was not allowed to sew in his cell or allowed to send mail out for fear he might send an akuma. so no one outside the prison would ever see any of his works much less be able to make them. But one would be highly mistaken as he was not working on next years line, rather something more sinister.

If one wear to only glance at his work and not analyze it one would only assume some odd new dessine. But to gabriel it was the groundwork for what was to come. Each paper full of diseases and notes were written in his own shorthand he developed before becoming hawkmoth for the first time. All in an effort to hid his work and list all the possible victims and targets to lure out the guardian and later ladybug and chat noir. Listings high priority targets for attacks, high risk victims from searching databases, the works.

Now however these shorthand writings wear going to be used for a different target list, a list of places and names of possible new akuma lieutenants. And ever page had information on details of his plan, some he had already figured out to an extent, some that still needed work. One of the biggest being wear to make his wish as his house was still in ruins and was likely not suitable anymore. Not to mention to make any location utible would take a lot of time and work and work risk leaving a paper trail. Admittedly he knew that location would require more time to come up with ideas.

The butterflies on the other hand held a trick of their own as each one of his new butterflies was hand made, each wing with a pattern its own. If someone who knew nothing of butterflies seen it they would ignore it but someone as skilled as himself knew better. By laying layers of wings on top of one another in a lantern one would have small sections of a city map. A clever way to hide your intentions without the guards being any the wiser.

Combining this map and his notes with his photo graphic memory and the intel he was being fed by his spy he was already under way to formulating his revenge plot and his ultimate goal. Though it would take time, months in fact he was well under way and by his calculations by next christmas it would be him that is celebrating with his family and not ladybug.

"Speak of that." eh said to himself looking up to the clock, that read two minutes midnight 'almost time for my next check in with black swan' he said to silently to himself. Despite being hawk moth for who knows how long at this point after being in retirement for so long even he had to admit that it was strange to speak with others telepathically after not using the skill in so long. Still gabriel supposed he would grow used to it again at this rate the number of times he would use it to complete his goals would only grow.

'Now then what news will she bring me today I wonder. Its been several weeks since the boy was brought on board. And if what my swan tells me is true he has gone on an easily vacation without permission. And while I would normally berate failure among my servants blitzkrieg was meant to be arguably the strongest and the smartest of the five. 'Sigh' so I suppose I can't hold it against the girl for not stopping him she is a spy and informant first and a fighter second.' he though silently as he waited for the video breach and the conversation with black swan to start.

In truth blitzkrieg was only supposed to follow orders from himself directly and in hindsight he should have made sure he had some orders before letting them go. No matter he also made sure that blitze had absolute loyalty so in the end it was not a question of if he would betray the case. No it was a question of when he would return with whatever powers, ability or things he sought out to gain. After all it was standard military practice to assess strength on both sides, granted lieutenants usually report to their commander first. But he had his loyalty for now so there was no worry of betrayal, and he could just take his powers away if he did try to double cross him so he had all his bases covered.

In that moment he felt a familiar pressenes trying to make itself known to him in the back of his mind. Looking up at the clock he could see it was midnight, a smile worked on his face as he returned the connection establishing a link with his spy. Greatly hoping for more progres on the things he had her set up for his return and

The feeling of connecting to a person who was under the influence of negative emotions like black swan was always surreal. When he entered their mind and vice versa it was like diving into a cold black pool of regret and sadness. The first time he tried making an akuma he had to stop because the process nearly made him sick, literally. After words he spent nearly six months playing around with his powers in small spurts experimenting. He would establish connections with people but not interfere, rather just to get used to the feelings like testing the waters in a pool.

The cold and heavy feeling of sadness, regret, despair, hopelessness, and loss. The hot almost burning sensation of someone who is angry, or seeking out revenge, the feelings that threaten to tear one's sychy apart even his own. The bitter toxic taste and feel of jealousy, lust and desire that made his head spin and caused him to be dizzy from the noxious fumes of this feeling. The labyrinth almost lost feelings the ones that confounded him the most the ones that made him struggle to tell up from down. Such feelings wear the cased by denial, betrale, lies, failed expectations, inexperience, and helplessness. These last feelings wear by fair the most difficult to figure out.

As he dived deeper and formed the full connection he tried to ignore the cold cool feeling in his mind and on his skin as it permeated his body in a cold embrace. He felt black swan presence inserting himself in her mind and felt her submitting to his presence and letting him in the rest of the way.

"Black swan on time as always." he said in a matter of fact way before getting down to business "tell me what do you have to report?" asking not even bothering with pleasantries. He had little time to waste and would like to get down to work as soon as possible.

He could almost feel black swan nodding in agreement at this as his senses refined he could see that black swan was on a rooftop looking over at the dupan chang's bakery. 'She was spying on adrien again. As much as I appreciate the gesture her intentions are far from pure. Not to mention I can't risk her getting caught this early in the game.' knowing he would have to tell her off he shelved that for later having more important things to discuss for now.

Black swan was quick to update him on all her new information, locations of valuable intel to take, possible hideouts, the results or lack thereof in the miraculous hunt, the works. He had listened intently to her entire report with interest, given how it was the only human interaction he had that wasn't just orders one could see also each report she confirmed or rumor debunked was more information to further his plan all of which was important.

As he listened he quipped in from time to time and asked questions when necessary but mostly just listened. His new assistant was starting to get better at her new role that she had been given since joining his case and spying for him. Combine that with the security blackouts happening more frequently recently it was becoming ever easier to get information like he wanted when he wanted. In fact he dare say that the girl would have given natalie a run for her money in a few months at this rate of progress.

"What about ladybug?" he asked eventually wondering how his adversary was doing recently "how has she been, and has my son been taken care of?" she asked again. He could vary easily see the house right now as chloe turn to face it as he saw what she did. However most of the lights wear off and barring a glow from the girls room everyone looked to be asleep.

He clearly said something offensive to the girl as for a moment in the sea of cold he felt in her mind was a small spark of anger. And while it didn't last long he was glad he could count on her desire for revenge to hold out when it came time to deal with ladybug.

He could hear the voice of chloe bristling in annoyance as she tried answer "She has stayed mostly out of the public eye in recent weeks, she has gone on patrol a few times but mostly remains at her home at the bakary." she answered back. She hid it ever so well the loath, hatred and anger, all kept tempered by the weight of sadness and self control. It almost was enough to put a smile on gabriels face as she was an even quicker studie then he first though. "I see" he answered simple not giving away any emotions.

gabriel waited several moments and as he did he could almost hear black swan grinding her teeth in bitterness. "At the moment her mother seems to be the one care for adrien while…..marinette is with her kwami." chloe said continuing fircly like she was fighting to speak and practically grinding out the name. ' a mother's touch of healing' he said approving knowing that a mother's touch when ill was often the best. "And he seems to have mostly recovered but is still under wight and has yet to walk, on his own but he can walk now if assisted." she finished and no sooner did she finish did the spark end in her replaced by the cold dark.

Gabriel would be lying if he said he was disappointed the fire went out as his skin was freezing from the cold but he would get ever it. However he had to get down to business "As disheartening as it is to hear that my son is still not fully recovered I am pleased that he is doing better." he replayed and if he wear not mistaken he could sense pride from black swan. "However." he started again "you need to limit you contact with the chang's or you will one day get caught by ladybug rather than spy on ladybug.". If he senses pride before he sensed it fade like dust in the wind at his remark.

He could feel her wanting to protest and put up a fight but he could also feel her restraint as she kept any remark to herself. 'Good she has learned her place on her own, saves me time later. Now then on to the next matter.'. "Now black swan wear is blitzkrieg, I haven't scenes him in a while. Wear is he?" he asked genuinely curious he had been meaning to ask but other things like new recruits wear more important.

However something that got his attention was her reluctance in answering and her mind almost trying to hide the information like looking for a lost boat at sea. "Swan." gabriel said a dangerous tone giving a warning, she knew better then to hide something from him. He could feel her flinch in his mind clearly she knew something that she likely wished she had not and was hoping he would overlook. But being in the industry for as long as he had you never overlook anything, especially what your employees get up to at the start of a company.

He could hear the sound of her pursing her lips to wet them from nerves, her heart quickened, the sound of snow under her feet moved as she shuffled. It was painfully clear that she was nervous and did not want to speak and to be frank gabriel did not have time for games "

"He may have left...to go out and train and understand his powers and maybe information and materials." she finally confessed begrudgingly.

This was not the answer he was expecting and he most certainly didn't like it ether. "Wear did he go to train" he asked starting to grow agitated by the this realizing why he couldn't scenes blitzcrieg. It would just figure that his second in command would be the first to go rogue on him for any reason. 'tipicule'

He had to wait for several long seconds as swan avoided answering but a growl of displeasure soon set her right and she trembled in fear at him. "I tride to stop him but he was to strong for me to do anything so he went to….the-the….. middle east…." she stammered out saying it extremely meekly bracing herself for what was inevitably going to come.

Gabriel for the most part was rather quite, early so. After all why should she be afraid it wasn't her fault she couldn't stop him in a fight even if she tried so why would he blame her. But there was nothing to fear he was just thinking this information over so it was nothing to fear. "Oh is that all." he began to say making blackswan let out a sigh of relief 'seems like I'm safe' . "Why didn't you tell me thi-WHAT!"

black swan and spoken to soon.

and that's a wrap I hope you all enjoyed and thank you for your patience. the story seems to be picking up a bit for old hawk moth, not to mention he dose not seem all that happy to find out about blitz. also what could fu be reasurching and when will are entrapped cat finally get back on his pads...probable after chrismas...in universe not literally chrismas for us. also who are the candidates going to be on the list black swan provided and who will be on the list fu is going to provide, so many lists, so many candidates, so little time. on way to find out I suppose and it likely wont be pretty for are heroes.

any way if you liked the story leave a fave and leave a comment or review if you feel like it I appreciate it. till next time.


	19. O-mow-ke

Omake chapter just for fun and to put a little contexted into something from the last chapter. Now normally I don't do things like this but when I tried to put this in it just didn't click in the chapter so I decided to make the omake its own spret thing and put more time and effort into it. Don't expect me to do too much of this but if something I feel deserves to be in the story but ether doesn't fit or is to out of place in the main story I might make another. Thank you all for reading and please leave a comment in the review and enjoy the short.

 **Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-**

It was late in the afternoon in the dupanchang bakery, the store was full of customers the shelves wear nearing empty as the end of the day approached. Marinette made some progress and stopped cursing as much sitting she may even finish by late that evening. And adrien was doing much better after his outburst having finally calmed down after a while enough to be coherent and talk. In short all was well with the world inside the family home and bakery.

Through while adrien did not say much he was at least beginning to open up a bit more which was a good start in sabines mind. Once he had calmed down enough to leave she went back down stairs to help out while adrien was given the remote and his confections back. He did not watch any tv he did do some thinking about his situations and what he should do. And while he was more open to accepting help after running away opening up and talking about his problems was still hard.

So later when sabin returned and checked him over and deeming him strong enough asked if he wanted to help with dinner. All the while she kept all mention of the previous incident topic to herself as though it never happened. To which adrien was grateful for, and while not vary conficadt in his abilities in the kitchen was willing to help.

Finding himself not more then five minutes later with a peeler in hand sitting at the counter with a bowl of vegetables that needed to lose their hides. While the mother did the cutting and the actual cooking not wanting to risk adrien hurting himself with a knife till he was stronger. To which adrien took no offence to as holding a knife then colasing or falling would hurt more then a cut from a peeler. Then being told that if he needed anything just to ask and she would be right over.

"Um… m's chang?" adrien said quietly and at first he wondered if he needed to speak louder, but he didn't want to be rude. Sabine just turned round and beamed happily "please call me sabine how many times must I tell you adrien." she returned humoruly before double checking her cooking then turned round once more to approach him ". Now Is there something wrong adrien?" she asked standing in front of him behind on the other side of the counter.

He shrunk slightly under her gaze as while he did not feel intimidated by the mother he did feel nervous still. Talking to anyone outside his friends was honestly hard having lived so long on the streets and under his father. It was a habit that was hard to break after so long though he was learning. Clearing his throat to give him an extra moment or two to chase away his doubts. But it didn't work so taking a deep breath to try and steady his nerves. As he did so adrien knew he could stall much longer so building his courage opening his mouth then.

"I-I was just wondering." he began nervously receiving a short nod and a yes to continue from sabine. Seeing the green light to continue tried his best to speak up again, "its just I noticed the photo and was wondering…" however he caught himself trailer off. He grew quickly embarrassed at himself wondering why he found it so hard to ask questions. Recently it had been difficult to say anything to his hoists leaving him wondering what had changed. While he always had trouble speaking to others outside his friends it was like the longer he stayed the harder it got.

Meanwhile sabine thought to herself for a moment "the photo?" she questioned out loud in thought for a moment. "Oh that photo!" sabine exclaimed a moment latter snapping adrien from his thoughts with a jump but she did not appear to notice. She then pulled out something from her back pocket and presented it to him. He took the photo to see once more the easter picture of marinette in her cute dress at around four years old with her easter basket with the spots on her face.

"This is the one." adrien confirmed to the mother as she rounded the counter to look at the photo with him. "I was wondering…..ah- well….what happened...?" he said pausing periodically and extending the happened not quite sure how to ask and not even sure if he should ask for that matter.

Sabine then let out a short but happy laugh "oh yes I remember that. 'Sigh' marinette was so upset before this was taken." she said sounding whimsical. It was clear to adrien their was more to the story he was missing that he wanted the answers to but did not want to push his luck so waited for her. As he did sabine got a slightly vacant look as memories came back to her of a time many years ago.

After a bit the vacantness left her and she looked back to adrien her faint smile still their. "it was about four days before easter sunday." she began to say as sabine began her story. "Marinette was playing with some of the local kids at the park and was about to go down the slide but was nervous as it was the biggest slide in the park. She was taking bit of time to take her turn as back then she was nervous around heights." she explained to him. Adrien himself couldn't imagine marinette being afraid of heights as since he knew her when ever they did an activity that was somewhat scary she was one of the first.

Adrien though kept this to himself as sabien walked about around the counter to the stove continuing her story along the way. "Then a another boy…..or was it a girl?…. Any way they got impatient and pushed marinette down the slide for taking to long to go." she explained as she checked the food. Adrien for his part could not withhold a look of shock and panic at the idea of his friend and the sweet girl marinette being push down a slide. She was such a sweet girl so the thought hurt and while that might be silly as she was clearly vary much well now but just the thought wounded him as he tried to do some work over the story.

His face must have been pretty telling though as when saine turned round to look back at him she had to stifle a laugh. "Oh don't you worry." she started to say as she went back to cooking. "After that I went to her and found that she had all but shattered several of her teeth from hitting the solid steel of the slide." she explained nonchalantly, but making adriens mouth just drop from shock and almost dropping the photo into the bowl carrots.

"Naturally me and tom took her to the hospital to have it fixed as she is in incredible pain from it weeping the entire time. They quickly went to work but the problem was she began to break out in haves and seemed to have a seizure. She further explained as she checked the rice and stirred the simmering meat. Adrien holding on to every word on the edge of his seat the feeling of pin and needles in his behind and legs as her story unfolded.

Stopping for a moment adrien watched her shoulders sag slightly stopping her rhythmic dance around the kitchen, the small smile on her face falling "As it turned out" sabine continued this time more roboticly as she went to take the vegetables he had finished and to her station by the stove their the cutting board was. Her actions far slower not carring the same energy from jus a few moments before as she made the round trip journy. "'Sigh' poor marinette she was in so much pain and thrashing too much to fix her teeth while awake so they tried to put her out and this was the first time she had such a procedure happen. Unfortunately marinette was allergic to the anesthesia they wear using" she explained as she returned to her post.

By this point adrien thought he might need to take a shower before the end of the story as he could feel himself starting to sweat from stress. When she said that marinette was allergic to anesthesia he could have sworn he felt his heart stop as such an allergy is can be fatal. His body leaning forwards in his chair as he tried his best not to fall off and unable to think about anything else.

He was so invested in the story that it was impossible to pay attention to anything else. Despite knowing that it happened close to twenty years ago, hearing this first hand account was like it was happening now in the moment. 'I never knew marinette was this strong to put up with all this. She really is something special.' he thought in wonder admiring the girls strength a smile on his lips and feeling warmth in his chest.

'Having your teeth knocked out and nearly dying from an allergy. 'huh' taking care of a sick adult it must be nothing by comparison.' and in truth the more he thought about it the more he realized how minor this situation was. while taking care of him was likely no picnic this he was sure of given how he needed help getting around stil. But he was sure there was an unspoken rule about dying at an early age and getting at least four teeth removed through blunt force trauma that made their situation far worse. 'And if there isn't a rule about that I'm making it one.' he declared to himself.

Adrien was pulled out of his musingings when he heard sbine speak again "The doctors wear thankfully able to save marinette as you can likely tell but it was apparently a close call and after almost a day she was no longer in danger. But she was stuck in the hospital for almost a week thanks to her severe allergic reaction." sabine continued her story adrien eating up every word like their pasties down staies.

"When she finally woke up and found out that she was going to miss the easter party and egg hunt in the park she was so upset." she explained making his heart lurch feeling for marinette knowing what it's like to go without on something your looking forward to. a frown on his face as his mind immediately went to his father and his lack. But he said nothing choosing to keep his mouth shut and listen.

"Because of this me and tom decided to celebrate easter at the hospital with her. Tom got an easter basket made up while I with some help from the nurses got marinette into one of her dresses. And while i'm sure she would have preferred to have gone to the big egg hunt she still had a good time." sabine explained as her mood began to improve at the happier part of the story her rhythm starting to return along with the pleasant atmosphere atmosphere unaware of the effect her story had on him.

Turning round to face him once more she took a few steps till she came close enough to touch reaching out a hand for the photo when she did. Adrien did not say anything and gave it back her her as she looked on it fondly. Eventually she returned her gaze to him "Eventually marinette was released finally aloud to go home. Though she refused to leave her room till her face returned to normal from her hives. That was the longest week and a half she had ever endured at that point." she commented as she spared a glance up to marinette's room

Sabine then brought her face closer to adrien's raising her left hand to the right side of her face before speaking mischievously in all but a whisper "What's funny though is that before I had trouble keeping her inside the house as she always wanted to explore and see new things to draw. Now I have trouble getting her out of her room long enough just for her to do her own laundry." sabine added is a far more jovial voice.

The pair wear quite for several seconds after this before sabina began to snicker struggling to contain a lugh. Soon after followed by adrien raising a hand to try and stop himself from breaking down into a laughing fit. Nether one however could contain their giggles for long as it quickly devolved with louder and longer gagging and coughing to contain themselves before both of them broke out laughing.

The joke if one wanted to call it that wasn't particularly funny adrien knew that, nore did he think it was. But something about the mother's words just put a smile on his face he couldn't resist and made him laugh. Even though it wasn't funny and it was hardly true as marinette was constantly leaving to help her friends out or running errands. But at the same time what made it funny was he could see her doing it sitting at her matching for a week straight without even noticing. 'Maybe that is why it's so funny….who knows.'

The pair laughed for a good minute or more nether saying or doing anything to break the moment. Both just too wrapped up in their own humors joke to really care or pay attention to much of anything. Like say the footsteps coming down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"MAMA!" a loud should rang out stopping the pair and their laughing as both sabine and adrien turned to see marinette standing in the kitchen. Her face was red as a tomato and if one squinted you could see steam emanating from her. A pink cup that she was holding only just by the handle in her right hand threatening to fall to the floor and shatter. She stood motionless as they stared back at her, marinette's face a combination of shock, embarrassment, and anger. Her eyes fixed on sabine and more specifically on the photo she held

Seeing who it was a pleasant smile came on to the mothers face"Oh hello marinette" sabine said casually as though nothing was wrong and her own daughters distressed appearance was of no concern. "I was just showing adrien your fourth easter photo the one when you wear in the hospital." she explained simply sounding as though she was unaware of marinette's discomfort.

Marinette however was not taking this so casually as she was picking her jaw up off the floor as she struggled to form words which wear clearly on her tongue. "How could I-I- eh- um- its not, um-I eh- ahhhhhh!" she cried out in a blur of unintelligible sounds as she tried in her state to speak but failing miserably. Before adrien had a chance to even speak she seemed to hit the boil running away back up the stairs before he could say anything to stop her. This left adrien sitting at his perch dumbfounded and guilt ridden for feeling like the case of her grief.

The whole event must have only lasted maybe a minute but in that minute he went from laughing with ms-er sabine, to confused at marinette's outburst, to guilty for causing her stress, to just confused as to how all those things could happen is such a short span of time. And he didn't know what to do aside from letting his mouth hang open is shock.

"Don't worry about her she gets like that when when one of us show someone one her pictures she doesn't think is perfect. She will get over it soon enough just give her some time.

"Now if you really want to see her get embarrassed how about I show you her baby photos or the pictures of her her dress she made when she was eight? That would realy case her to melt, especially considering the big design flaw in the dress given how you could see her bottom." she said jokingly with a wink surprising adrien.

He knew that marinette's parents wear different from anything he was used to to say nothing, but was It really ok to have her show him marinette's photos just to embarrass him. For that matter think about it he wasn't even sure what parents did with silly photos as he wasn't sure his parents took such photos as the only child photos he could remember wear the ones his mother had and in his father office. So he really didn't have any prerequisite knowledge.

Then again. He was a bit curious….."oh-ok….sure you can show me if you want." he answered after deciding to just try it. And almost immediately sabine beamed in joy at his answer clapping once of to the side of her head in glee. "Great I'll show you after dinner then." she replayed happily at his answer. "It's been too long since i've had someone new to share them with it will be nice to dust those old photos off again…" sabine said beginning to ramble on about all the different things that she wanted to show him later.

Adrien despite feeling he might be invaded a bit into marinette's privacy also couldn't wait to see them. As it felt...nice, like something that a family would do. And he liked that. "I wonder if this was what it's like to truly live with your family?" he asked himself quietly as he returned to his job. A smile grew on his face as he thought about it feeling warmth rise in his heart "I like that idea. Family."

 **Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow-**

Ok so what did you all think of my short chapter? Love it? Hate it? Let me know and also leave any information in the reviews please, positive criticism helps out a lot and I just enjoy the discussion. Thanks for your time and enjoy the rest of your week.


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